since 1976
since 1976
From Kia Press Release
The KIA SOUL EV has won the 2020 World Urban Car award and KIA TELLURIDE is the 2020 World Car of the Year which was announced via digital media due to widespread impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Everyone at Kia is truly honored to receive not just one, but two awards from the World Car Awards judging panel,” said Thomas Schemera, Executive Vice President and Head of Product Division at Kia Motors Corporation. “This is one of the hardest-fought competitions in the global automotive industry, proving that the Telluride and Soul EV are both truly outstanding vehicles. These accolades are testament to the talents and efforts of a worldwide team, who all strive to create desirable, high-quality and practical cars that drivers love.”
This year’s winner was chosen from an initial entry list of eight cars from all over the world, then a short list of three finalists as announced on March 3rd. The 2020 Top Three in the World finalists are the Kia Soul EV, the Mini Electric and the Volkswagen T-Cross.
The World Urban Car award was introduced in 2017. World Car Awards Program co-chair, Mike Rutherford, commented, “The World Urban Car award is increasingly significant as these clever, comparatively small cars measuring up to 4.2m long are among the biggest-selling, most accessible, best value vehicles in showrooms across the globe.”
Vehicles were selected and voted on by an international jury panel comprising 86 prominent automotive journalists from 24 countries around the world. Each juror was appointed by the World Car Steering Committee on the basis of his or her expertise, experience, credibility, and influence. The international accounting firm KPMG tabulated the jurors’ ballots.
The KIA TELLURIDE was chosen from an initial World Car of the Year entry list of 29 vehicles from all over the world while the KIA SOUL EV was chosen from an initial entry list of eight World Urban Car contenders. Both vehicles were Top Three in the World finalists in their respective categories as announced on March 3rd.
There were several stops along the road for the 2020 program, including one in Los Angeles in November for our sixth annual L.A. Test Drives event hosted by ZF.
The World Car Finals were launched live in New Delhi, India from the Delhi auto show on February 5th when the Top 10 and Top Five finalists in five World Car Awards categories were announced
2020 marks the 15th year of the World Car Awards partnership with the New York International Auto Show. The show has been rescheduled until August 28 to September 6, 2020. The media preview days will take place on August 26th and 27th (credentials required). The World Car Awards will launch its 2021 program at this time instead of in Paris. The launch will include a preliminary list of eligible vehicles for the 2021 season.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/7FBOfuL6PKk
