These are the 2024 World Car of the Year Winners

Chris Teague
by Chris Teague

Every year, different groups of auto journalists and industry professionals come together to choose a “best of” list to recognize vehicles in various categories. One of the groups is the World Car of the Year (WCOTY) jury, which includes journalists and professionals from several countries. They recently revealed their 2024 picks at the New York auto show, and it’s clear that legacy auto brands are facing increasingly tough competition.


First, the overall winner. The 2025 Kia EV9 is the World Car of the Year, with the BYD Seal and Volvo EX30 rounding out the top three. Jurors also break vehicles into categories for rankings, and the winners include:

·     Design: Toyota Prius

·     Urban Car: Volvo EX30

·     Performance Car: Hyundai Ioniq 5 N

·     Luxury Car: BMW 5 Series

·     Electric Car: Kia EV9

·     Overall: Kia EV9


Finalists for the awards include:

·     Ford Bronco

·     Hyundai Kona and Kona EV

·     Hyundai Santa Fe

·     Mazda CX-90

·     Subaru Crosstrek

·     Toyota Prius

·     Volkswagen ID.7


Many of those names are familiar to Americans, but the list of candidates for awards is where things get really interesting. The WCOTY jury considered several Chinese brands this year, showing that the country’s automakers are pushing ahead at a feverish pace.


Brands that were considered from China include BYD, Dayun, Great Wall Motors, Maxus, Nio, Omoda/Chery, Seres, XPeng, and Zeekr. KG Mobility from South Korea also made the list of candidates.


To be eligible for an award, the vehicle must be produced in volumes of at least 10,000 units per year and must be priced below comparable premium options in at least two major markets. They must also be sold on at least two separate continents.


[Image: Kia]


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Chris Teague
Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

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  • Darren Mertz Darren Mertz on Mar 28, 2024

    Where's the heater control? Where's the Radio control? Where the bloody speedometer?? In a menu I suppose. How safe is that??? Volvo....

  • Dave Holzman Dave Holzman on Mar 28, 2024

    A design award for the Prius?!!!

    Yes, the Prius is a great looking car, but the visibility is terrible from what I've read, notably Consumer Reports. Bad visibility is a dangerous, and very annoying design flaw.

  • Slavuta Why is everybody sweating? Like sedans? - go buy one. Better - 2. Let CRV/RAV rust on the dealer lot. I have 3 sedans on the driveway. My neighbor - 2. Neighbors on each of our other side - 8 SUVs.
  • Theflyersfan With sedans, especially, I wonder how many of those sales are to rental fleets. With the exception of the Civic and Accord, there are still rows of sedans mixed in with the RAV4s at every airport rental lot. I doubt the breakdown in sales is publicly published, so who knows... GM isn't out of the sedan business - Cadillac exists and I can't believe I'm typing this but they are actually decent - and I think they are making a huge mistake, especially if there's an extended oil price hike (cough...Iran...cough) and people want smaller and hybrids. But if one is only tied to the quarterly shareholder reports and not trends and the big picture, bad decisions like this get made.
  • Wjtinfwb Not proud of what Stellantis is rolling out?
  • Wjtinfwb Absolutely. But not incredibly high-tech, AWD, mega performance sedans with amazing styling and outrageous price tags. GM needs a new Impala and LeSabre. 6 passenger, comfortable, conservative, dead nuts reliable and inexpensive enough for a family guy making 70k a year or less to be able to afford. Ford should bring back the Fusion, modernized, maybe a bit bigger and give us that Hybrid option again. An updated Taurus, harkening back to the Gen 1 and updated version that easily hold 6, offer a huge trunk, elevated handling and ride and modest power that offers great fuel economy. Like the GM have a version that a working mom can afford. The last decade car makers have focused on building cars that American's want, but eliminated what they need. When a Ford Escape of Chevy Blazer can be optioned up to 50k, you've lost the plot.
  • Willie If both nations were actually free market economies I would be totally opposed. The US is closer to being one, but China does a lot to prop up the sectors they want to dominate allowing them to sell WAY below cost, functionally dumping their goods in our market to destroy competition. I have seen this in my area recently with shrimp farmed by Chinese comglomerates being sold super cheap to push local producers (who have to live at US prices and obey US laws) out of business.China also has VERY lax safety and environmental laws which reduce costs greatly. It isn't an equal playing field, they don't play fair.
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