World Car Awards hall of fame: every winner ever

The most important awards initiative on the planet

World Car Awards is the largest automotive awards initiative in the world. It boasts a global media reach of 315 million people, and leads all other awards programmes across almost 50 worldwide markets.

The 2025 World Car of the Year, named at the New York International Auto Show, is the Kia EV3 – the 21st global car to be honored with an ‘Oscar of the motoring world’. But which are the cars it has joined in the hall of fame?

Here, we look back at every World Car of the Year winner – starting way back in 2005…

2005: Audi A6

The World Car Awards were inaugurated in 2003 and officially launched in January 2004. Later that year, the new ‘C5-generation’ Audi A6 was named the first ever World Car of the Year. Over its seven-year life, it was constantly evolved, culminating in the launch of the thrilling Audi RS6. With 579hp, it was the most powerful Audi ever built…

2006: BMW 3 Series

To be eligible for World Car Awards, vehicles need to be sold in at least two major markets, such as North America, Europe and China. The influential E90 BMW 3 Series was the second World Car of the Year winner in 2005, with over 225,000 examples sold in its first year of production alone.

2007: Lexus LS 460

The standard-setting Lexus LS has long been a global pinnacle for Toyota Motor Corp. The latest Lexus LS 460 V8 became World Car of the Year in 2007, setting a new standard of luxury in the fast-growing awards, too.

2008: Mazda2 and Demio

Mazda is a global brand that has long thrived in World Car Awards, thanks to its universal appeal across multiple markets. It’s this that saw the clever Mazda 2, sold as the Demio in Japan, become the most attainable World Car of the Year winner yet, with victory in 2008.

2009: Volkswagen Golf Mk6

The modern people’s car, the Volkswagen Golf Mk6, scooped the 2009 World Car of the Year prize. It was the most well-rounded Golf yet, offering new levels of luxury and ability to mainstream car buyers – at an accessible, affordable price.

2010: Volkswagen Polo

Even more affordable was the 2010 World Car of the Year, the Volkswagen Polo. It was a measure of Volkswagen’s success at the time that it became the first ever car company to win successive World Car awards.

2011: Nissan Leaf

World Car Awards was one of the first major awards organisations to give a major prize to an all-electric car, honoring the radical Nissan Leaf in 2011. Electric cars have gone on to do rather well for themselves since…

2012: Volkswagen Up

A clever compact city car, the ingenious Volkswagen Up was named 2011 World Car of the year. Not only did it offer fuel-efficient gasoline engines, but an able electric version, the Volkswagen e-Up, was later launched – and as a mark of its inherent rightness, it remains on sale even today.

2013: Volkswagen Golf Mk7

Does the Volkswagen Golf Mk7 mark ‘peak Golf’? This brilliant all-rounder was rightly named 2013 World Car of the Year and, a decade on, it remains a car Volkswagen has still yet to better.

2014: Audi A3

The able Audi A3 has long been a desirable premium alternative to the Volkswagen Golf. A year after the Mk7 Golf took a motoring Oscar, the Audi A3 was named 2014 World Car of the Year.

2015: Mercedes-Benz C-Class

It was a World Car Awards first for Mercedes-Benz in 2015, with the latest C-Class scooping the World Car of the Year prize.

The following year, it went back to Mazda, with a surprise…

2016: Mazda MX-5

The brilliant fourth-generation Mazda MX-5, the world’s best-selling roadster, became a popular World Car of the Year winner in 2016, after judges around the globe were won over by its many talents.

2017: Jaguar F-Pace

Another bold new machine became World Car of the Year in 2017 – the Jaguar F-Pace, the firm’s first-ever SUV. It was an instant hit, and a landmark victory for its famous designer, Ian Callum.

2018: Volvo XC60

Another SUV followed up the Jaguar I-Pace in 2018, with the well-rounded Volvo XC60 succeeding it as World Car of the Year.

2019: Jaguar I-Pace

2019 saw one of the most memorable moments to date in World Car Awards history. The all-electric Jaguar I-Pace didn’t just win World EV of the Year, and World Car Design of the Year, but it scooped a dramatic hat-trick by being named 2019 World Car of the Year too. A delighted Ian Callum was on hand to accept the prizes and create World Car Awards history.

2020: Kia Telluride

World Car Awards marked out Kia as one to watch in 2020 by naming the Telluride World Car of the Year. The bold SUV heralded a revolution for the fast-growing South Korean brand, one that continues to gather pace.

2021: Volkswagen ID.4

Volkswagen scored its first overall World Car of the Year victory of the electric era with the ID.4 in 2021. The ID.4 is the global SUV sister car to the Europe-only Volkswagen ID.3 hatch.

2022: Hyundai Ioniq 5

There was another memorable moment in 2022 when the Hyundai Ioniq 5 swept the floor with a trio of prizes including the overall World Car of the Year gong. Senior executives from the South Korean giant were on hand to proudly accept the awards.

2023: Hyundai Ioniq 6

In 2023, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 pipped the BMW X1 and iX1, and the Kia Niro, to the overall prize. This made it a memorable double for the popular Korean brand.

2024: Kia EV9

World-class cars from South Korea continued to dominate World Car Awards in 2024, with the brand-defining Kia EV9 beating the BYD Soul and Volvo EX30 to the prize. Once again, it was an all-electric final three.

But with BYD making the final three, it was the first time a Chinese brand made it this far.

2025: Kia EV3

In 2025, Kia follows up sister company Hyundai by achieving consecutive World Car Awards prizes. This year, the Kia EV3 is the winner – and a particularly significant one too, given how affordable this small family electric SUV is.

You can expect to see Kia dealers all around the world celebrating the EV3’s success. As for the World Car Awards jurors, the attention is already now shifting to 2026…