The all electric Kia EV3 has scooped the top prize at the 2024 World Car of the Year awards at an event at the New York Auto Show winning out over the Hyundai Inster and the BMW X3. This makes it four in a row at the World Car Awards for Korean car makers, following the success of the Kia EV9 in 2024, and Hyundai with the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 6 in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
The award for World Electric Vehicle of 2025 went to the Hyundai Inster, and the forthcoming BYD Dolphin Surf - which is set to go on sale in the UK shortly - was named World Urban Car, the first award for Chinese car maker BYD.
Kia achieved record sales in the UK in 2024 of 112,000 cars and Paul Philpott, President and CEO of Kia UK, said: “This is fantastic recognition for our latest EV and for Kia, especially as we entered the 2025 World Car Awards as reigning champions from 2024. The EV3 has already proven to be very popular with customers in the UK and has received the highest form of praise from high profile media outlets and the UK Car of the Year jury. This achievement gives Kia a real badge of honour, and supports our dealer partners as they guide customers to make their switch to electric.”
The full line up of winners in all the categories:
World Car of the Year - Kia EV3
World Electric Vehicle - Hyundai Inster
World Luxury Car - Volvo EX90
World Performance Car - Porsche 911 Carrera GTS
World Urban Car - BYD Dolphin Surf/Seagull
World Car Design - Volkswagen ID.Buzz
The nominated contenders were shortlisted following extensive testing by a panel of more than 96 jurors from 30 countries, including Electrifying.com’s Editor-in-Chief, Ginny Buckley.
For the Design Award, a panel of six highly respected global design experts - including the former Chief Creative Officer of Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun, Shiro Nakamura - reviewed all the candidates and named the Volkswagen ID.Buzz the World Design Car.
The Person of the Year for 2025 has already been announced, with Stella Li, Executive Vice-President of BYD, receiving the title. This marks the first time a woman has been named World Car Person of the Year, and also the first World Car Award win for a Chinese brand.
The winners receive trophies designed by former Jaguar Design Chief Ian Callum, a previous World Car Award winner for the Jaguar I-PACE.
Previous all-electric World Car of the Year winners:
2024: Kia EV9
2023: Hyundai Ioniq 6
2022: Hyundai Ioniq 5
2021: Volkswagen ID.4
2019: Jaguar I-PACE
