2023 World Car Awards Candidates Announced

The 2023 World Car Awards finalists have been fully revealed, boring a number of surprises here. No less than six categories are being contested including Car Of The Year, Electric Car The Year, and more. 

Sources online report that each of the top three finalists across all categories were voted through a secret ballot. Casting votes for each here were 100 international automotive journalists from 32 countries.

BMW i7.

Hyundai Ioniq 6.

Outstandingly, the nominations come in three of six categories each having mostly electric vehicles on the list topping other renowned marques.  As a result, it sees a rather robust combustion-powered car like the BMW X1 competing against two electrified competitors for the title of 2023 World Car The Year, those being the Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Kia Niro.

Besides that, the Bavarian marque is also vying for the title of 2023 World Luxury Car of the year with its stylishly luxurious and tech-laden  i7 flagship EV saloon. Nominated alongside it were the Lucid Air and Genesis G90. The i7 is also competing for the title of 2023 World Electric Vehicle Of The Year alongside the Lucid Air once more, as well as the Hyundai Ioniq 6, the latter being recently teased locally in Malaysia. 

Hyundai Ioniq 5 proved to be a winning finalist in the 2022 World Car awards.

Both the new generation Range Rover and the Toyota GR Corolla are amongst the finalists this year.

Making the cut too is the GWM Ora Funky Cat/Haomao (known as the GWM Ora Good Cat to us Malaysians).

Expectations are running high for Korean automaker  Hyundai as its Ioniq 5 triumphed in last year’s edition of the World EV category,which also allowed the marque to take home the titles of World Car Of The Year and World Car Design of The Year categories. The Ioniq 6 is listed as a potential winner for similar categories in this latest 2023 edition.

Other key nominees include the Toyota GR Corolla hot-hatch and the Kia EV6 GT in the World Performance Car category, the GWM Ora Funky Cat (known as the GMW Ora Good Cat to us Malaysians) in the World Urban Car segment, as well as the the new generation Range Rover in the World Car Design category. 

The theme for this year is rather unique as the Callum Creative Firm collaborated with Italian braking specialists Brembo, who are ‘hosting’ the awards this year, to produce an exclusive aesthetic 3D printing design for the World Car trophy. 

Looking ahead, all winners will be announced on April 5 which is slated to take place during the 2023 New York International Auto Show (NYIAS). By the way, here are the list of nominees across the six categories: