- Europe’s Car Of The Year and the North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of The Year competitions have announced their 2025 winners.
- The retro Renault 5 EV took gold in the Euro test, easily beating the second-place Kia EV3, while Dacia’s Duster came a disappointing fifth.
- On the other side of the Atlantic Honda’s Civic Hybrid was best car, the Ford Ranger best truck and the electric VW ID.Buzz bagged best utility.
The votes in the world’s two most prestigious Car of the Year competitions have been counted and all four winners have been announced. Renault’s electric 5 and its Alpine A290 hot hatch brother were named Europe’s Car Of The Year, and over in the American event, which is split into car, truck, and utility categories, the Honda Civic Hybrid, Ford Ranger, and VW ID.Buzz came away with the top prizes.
Electric cars figured strongly in the Euro competition and the nostalgic appeal of the Renault 5’s retro styling was always going to make it a tough one to beat. It scored a hefty 353 votes from the 59 judges, helping Renault win a second consecutive award (the Scenic won in 2024) and easily pushed the also-electric Kia EV3, which clocked up 291 votes, into second place.
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Third went to the Citroen C3 and its eC3 electric twin (215 points), while the cheeky-looking Hyundai Inster took fourth with 172 points. We were surprised to see that Dacia’s new, grown-up, but still great value Duster only managed 168 points and fifth place. Sixth went to the Terramar (165 points), Cupra’s take on the VW Tiguan, and the Alfa Romeo Junior, which is heavily based on the Jeep Avenger that won in 2023, garnered 136 points, putting it a distant seventh.
Europe’s Car Of The Year result
NACTOY
Over in the US Honda’s Civic Hybrid beat out the Toyota Camry and Kia K4, an edgy-looking replacement for the Forte, to be named best car. The non-hybrid version of the Honda Civic won the same prize in 2022, so the award wasn’t totally unexpected.
In the truck category, judges rated the Ford Ranger above the new Ram 1500 and Toyota Tacoma, while the VW ID.Buzz swept past the Chevrolet Equinox EV and Hyundai Santa Fe to claim best utility.
NACTOY result
