The Kia EV6 Is The 2022 European Car Of The Year In A First For The Korean Brand

The all-electric EV6 is the first car ever made by Kia to win the European Car of the Year award, the organization announced today. It beat out six other competitors shortlisted for the award this year.

The EV6 is only the third all-electric vehicle to ever win the ECOTY award and did so with 279 points. The closest competition for the award this year, however, was all-electric. The runner-up was the Renault Megane E-Tech Electric with 265 points and it was followed closely by the Hyundai Ioniq 5, which finished with 261 points.

They were followed by the Peugeot 308 (191 points), the Skoda Enyaq (185 points), the Ford Mustang Mach-E (150 points), and the Cupra Born (144 points).

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“It’s a great honor to have won the 2022 European Car of the Year with the EV6, the first-ever Kia to win this prestigious award,” said Jason Jeong, president of Kia Europe. “The EV6 is an exciting sign of what’s still to come in our evolving electrified line-up.”

COTY Suspends Russian Votes

The European Car of the Year panel is made up of members from nine automotive publications in nine countries and is independent from automakers. This year, the group announced that it would not be counting votes from its Russian members.

“This is a reaction on the Russian attack on the Ukraine. The suspension is not personal, it is not against our members. The Russian Jury members are not excluded from the Jury. But their right to vote is suspended until a change of the situation of the conflict,” the organization wrote in a release. “We all hope that the terrible war will come to an end very soon.”

The organization noted that despite the decision to suspend Russian members’ right to vote, the results of the competition have not been affected. Both the winning car and the rankings would have been the same with participation.

The Car of the Year awards have been going on since 1964 when the Rover 2000 took the win. The first electric car to win the award was the Nissan LEAF in 2011.