Kia EV3, Volvo EX90 & Porsche 911 Amongst 2025 World Car Awards Winners

As part of the 2025 New York Auto Show happening this week, the 2025 World Car Awards finally revealed its full list of winners. Whilst some category winners weren’t a big surprise, others were.

The Kia EV3 when we sized up in Taiwan last year during the Kia APAC EV Day event.

We’ll start with the biggest prize of all, that being the 2025 World Car of The Year title. Said title was bestowed onto the Kia EV3 as it beat out rivalling finalists in the form of the BMW X3 and Hyundai Inster (Casper) Electric for this coveted title.

“This award highlights Kia’s global leadership in providing design-led, technologically advanced, sustainable mobility solutions and how the EV3’s class-leading attributes redefine the user experience for customers worldwide,” expressed Ho Sung Song, President and CEO at Kia.

We’ve sized up the Kia EV3 in the flesh during last year’s Kia APAC EV Day in Taiwan, which you can read up on by clicking here.

The Volvo EX90 was recently launched in Malaysia priced at RM442,888.

Another notable winner here was the Volvo EX90, which was crowned as 2025 World Luxury Car. The new and all-electric flagship three-row SUV from the Swedish marque beat both the new Porsche Macan electric and Porsche Panamera grand tourer for this crown.

“We’re pleased to see the EX90 get the recognition it deserves,” remarked Håkan Samuelsson who recently returned to Volvo Cars as CEO. The exec had even acknowledged that the EX90 faced “tough competition” from both rivalling finalists from Porsche.

On a side note, the EX90 recently made its local debut alongside its heavily face-lifted XC90 twin. You can get to grips with both through our in-depth launch report by clicking here, as well as our initial preview report of which by clicking here.

The 992.2-gen Porsche 911 Carrera GTS featuring a new and electrified T-Hybrid powertrain was crowned 2025 World Performance Car - unsurprisingly, we might add.

Despite losing out to Volvo in the World Luxury Car category, renowned German sportscar marque Porsche took a rather unsurprising win instead when its refreshed 992.2-gen Porsche 911 Carrera GTS was crowned as 2025 World Performance Car.

“With each of the eight generations since then, our aim has been to set the bar higher. The 911 Carrera GTS with the innovative, lightweight T-Hybrid system is the latest advancement in that quest,” said Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Executive Board at Porsche AG.

Closer to home, the new T-Hybrid tech mentioned was central to the new 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS model launched by Sime Darby Auto Performance (Porsche Malaysia) recently. As reported, this variant of the new 911 commands a base starting price of RM1.89 million.

The Hyundai Inster (Casper) Electric (left) missed out on the title of 2025 World Car of The Year, but did instead bag the 2025 World Electric Vehicle title. The BYD Seagull (Dolphin Mini)(right), on the other hand, was crowned 2025 World Urban Car.

Elsewhere, Chinese NEV-making giants BYD won both 2025 World Urban Car with its Seagull (Dolphin Mini) EV and 2025 World Car Person of The Year, the latter earned by its Executive Vice President Stella Li.

Lastly, the 2025 World Car Design trophy was awarded to the Volkswagen ID. Buzz, whilst the 2025 World Electric Vehicle crown was bestowed upon the Hyundai Inster (Casper) Electric mentioned earlier – the latter having lost out on being named 2025 World Car of The Year.

You can see the full list of winners over at the official World Car Awards website. Do you think the winners were deserving? Hit the comments below with your thoughts on which…