With the COVID-19 pandemic dragging the global automotive industry down by suspending production and delaying development activities, car-makers are in dire need of good news. For Kia, that has come in the form of the 2020 World Car Awards that was announced recently.
Yes, the South Korean brand's Telluride was crowned the 2020 World Car of the Year. Ever since it's launch last year, the Telluride has been garnering nothing but praises from the automotive fraternity globally. The World Car Awards jury were no different with Kia's newest three-row crossover coming out on top in all aspects that mattered.
With an eye-catching design, well-appointed interiors that could shame cars a segment or two above and a laundry list of create comforts and safety features as standard, its not really hard to know why everybody seem to be impressed by this Kia. Car-buyers have been taking note too with Kia said to be struggling to meet demand.
A couple of Mazdas - the 3 and CX-30 - were in contention for the title until the final rounds before settling for positions behind the Kia. The Japanese brand's stylish and upmarket cars and crossovers have been putting on quite a show of late and the 3 and CX-30 personify the strides made.
Other finalists that didn't make it to the top three were Hyundai Sonata, Kia Soul EV, Mercedes-Benz CLA and GLB, Range Rover Evoque and Volkswagen Golf and T-Cross. These ten finalists were shortlisted after careful evaluation of 29 all-new models launched last year worldwide and assessing them against various parameters.
2020 World Car of the Year Results
1. Kia Telluride - 758 points
2. Mazda 3 - 745 points
3. Mazda CX-30 - 738 points
Previous Winners
2019 - Jaguar I-PACE
2018 - Volvo XC60
2017 - Jaguar F-PACE
2016 - Mazda MX-5
2015 - Mercedes-Benz C-Class
What's unique about the World Car Awards is the fact this brings together 86 automotive journalists from 27 countries representing television, print, online and various other forms of media. Six journalists from India including Autocar India's Hormazd Sorabjee and Renuka Kirpalani, NDTV's Siddharth Vinayak Patankar and Auto X's founder Dhruv Behl are amongst the jurors.
The annual process usually begins at the Frankfurt Motor Show the prior year where all eligible candidates for award are announced and ends with declaring and felicitating the winner at the New York Auto Show. In between, the jurors drive every car that's in contention, whittle down the finalists, trim them further to come up with the 'Top Three' contenders before finally agreeing on the winner. Thanks to COVID-19, the declaring the winner part happened online in 2020.
First awarded in 2005, the World Car of the Year title is currently in it's sixteenth year. This win marks the first time a South Korean brand has been chosen for the coveted title. Kia is going places, indeed!
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