- Kia Telluride is World Car of the Year for 2020, Kia Soul is Urban Car.
- Porsche Taycan picks up World Luxury Car and World Performance Car honours.
- Mazda3 grabs 2020 Car Design of the Year.
Every year, the final World Car of the Year award ceremony takes place at the New York International Auto Show, but due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, the event was pushed back to August. However, the WCOTY winners have been announced over the Internet.
The overall 2020 World Car title has been handed to the Kia Telluride midsize crossover, which beat out category finalists Mazda3 and Mazda CX-30. It’s the first piece of WCOTY of hardware for Kia throughout the program’s 16-year existence.
The second-ever WCOTY trophy for the Korean brand was handed to the Kia Soul subcompact crossover, which has been named the 2020 World Urban Car of the Year. It was going against the fully electric MINI Cooper SE and the Volkswagen T-Cross. The World Urban Car award has established in 2017.
The electric Porsche Taycan sport sedan received top votes in not one, but two categories. It won the 2020 World Luxury Car award, beating out the Porsche 911 and the Mercedes-Benz EQC. In addition, the Taycan became the 2020 World Performance Car of the Year, which confronted the Porsche 718 Spyder/Cayman GT4 as well as the Porsche 911.
The Mazda3 won the 2020 World Car Design of the Year award, besting the Peugeot 208 and the Porsche Taycan which were also finalists in the category. This isn’t the first time the Japanese automaker won this award, as the Mazda MX-5 was voted the World Car Design of the Year back in 2016.
The World Car Awards jury consists of 86 automotive journalists from all over the world, including three from Canada. The category finalists were announced last month.
