Kia & Hyundai EVs Scoop Up Two More Big Awards
Last Updated on: 24th June 2025, 12:07 am
Hyundai’s & Kia’s electric vehicles have been highly acclaimed for years, but especially the past few years, and they keep winning award after award. Raymond Tribdino just wrote about the Kia EV3 winning the World Car of the Year award at the New York International Auto Show, and I actually thought at first it was about other news that just came out today. The Kia EV3 just won the Car of the Year award at the 2025 Autotrader Drivers’ Choice Awards.
The EV3 actually won both the “Car of the Year” award the “Best Mainstream Electric Car” award.
“Formerly known as the Autotrader New Car Awards, the Drivers’ Choice Awards recognizes 25 categories of vehicles, with finalists and winners determined by the real-world feedback from over 225,000 UK car owners through an online survey. Each vehicle is rated across 16 different criteria — ranging from reliability and performance to appearance and running costs. Owners were also asked about their overall satisfaction and how likely they would be to recommend their car to others,” Kia shares.
“The EV3 impressed drivers across the UK with its outstanding value, clever packaging and impressive refinement. Owners praised it for representing the best of the best in the ‘mainstream’ market segment — and the best car overall of 2025.” That’s quite an achievement the company earned.
“It may be Kia’s most affordable current EV on sale, but the EV3 still manages to pack a premium punch. It scored top marks for the quality of its features which, combined with eye-catching looks and a great driving experience, has made the EV3 a massive hit with its owners,” added Erin Baker, Autotrader’s Editorial Director. “One told us: ‘This was my first ever electric car, and it really stood out among all the other EVs, particularly within my price bracket. It’s quirky, futuristic, packed full of brilliant features, and it’s really easy to drive. Plus, I can get the whole family in it with room to spare. We absolutely love it.’ Congratulations Kia on a very well-deserved win.” Indeed.
This is a repeat of the Kia EV6 winning the Car of the Year award last year.
Cousin Hyundai also had a lot to cheer about. The Hyundai IONIQ 5 was named “Best Car for City Drivers” at the same Drivers’ Choice Awards. “A smooth drive and great visibility are two of the key features of the IONIQ 5, which make it the ideal choice for city drivers in this year’s awards,” Erin Baker, Autotrader Editorial Director, writes. “Owners told us they loved its combination of unique looks and practicality, with one saying: ‘It is a pleasure to drive, has all the power I could want, has great acceleration and ride comfort, looks fantastic and handles extremely well when I’m driving around town’.”
So, while it couldn’t contend with the super-competitive EV3, the IONIQ 5 did pull in a very positive and noteworthy “Best Car for City Drivers” from the Autotrader awards.
Hyundai and Kia just keep scooping up awards. Congratulations to the Korean automakers for creating great electric cars. As Raymond said, the key is they just keep doing this over and over.
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