The 2026 AUTOBEST Award Winners have been announced during the European ‘Best Buy Car’ organisation’s Ultimate Test in Austria.
BYD executive vice president Stella Li took one of the top prizes after being inducted into the MANBEST Hall of Fame for the car industry’s best managers and leaders.
The award acknowledges her pivotal role in BYD’s global expansion, including rapid growth here in the UK, which has seen the Chinese brand grab a 2.3 percent share of the new-car market so far in 2025.
BYD was also named TECHNOBEST 2026 winner for its Super e-Platform flash charging tech. This allows 1,000kW (1mW) DC rapid charging speeds – delivering 295 miles of range in just five minutes.
Meanwhile, Japanese giant Toyota has been named COMPANYBEST 2026 for an ‘exceptional performance’, with a multi-pathway strategy that includes hybrids, plug-in hybrids, fuel cell vehicles and EVs, as markets demand.
Toyota has also committed to a ‘full-lineup philosophy’, producing everything from sports cars to commercial vehicles. And the company is successful in motorsport, winning three FIA Constructors’ world championships in 2024.
SPORTBEST 2026 goes to Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds, and the SAFETYBEST 2026 winner is Pirelli’s clever Cyber Tire concept.
BMW Group chief designer Adrian van Hooydonk has been inducted into the DESIGNBEST hall of fame, for his decades of work at the Munich firm – recently culminating in the launch of the latest Neue Klasse design vision.
The Honda Prelude won the innovative ‘A Star Is Back’ Award, which honours retro favourites that have been successfully bought back to life.
All the winners will be presented with their prizes during an exclusive award ceremony in Vienna in March 2026.
AUTOBEST Conquest
The AUTOBEST organisation, of which Motoring Research’s Richard Aucock (pictured above) is the UK juror, is also planning a noteworthy evolution in how the 2026 Best Buy Car of Europe is decided.
During the AUTOBEST Ultimate Test, six finalists were assessed by 32 expert jurors from across Europe.
The finalists were the BYD Dolphin Surf, Citroen C3 Aircross, Fiat Grande Panda, Ford Puma Gen-E, MG S5 EV and Renault 4.
Starting in January 2026, motorists from across Europe will be invited to ‘drive, test and vote for the best’, with all finalists open to a public vote. Public votes will count for 50 percent of the final result, with the jury accounting for the other 50 percent.
This will remain open until the Grand Finale, when the results will be revealed live during the AUTOBEST Conquest Show on 28 March 2026.
Motoring Research will be bringing you more news of the exciting developments for AUTOBEST – which remains the largest independent motoring media jury both in Europe and the world.
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