2022 Women’s World Car of the Year category winners announced
In its 12th year, jurors will now select an overall winner from this selection.
The 2022 Women’s World Car of the Year category winners have been announced, with jurors now set to select the overall winner from these contenders.
Now in its 12th year, WWCOTY features 56 journalists from 40 countries across five continents. For the 2022 awards, 65 vehicles were whittled down to just six, with each going on sale between January 1 and December 31, 2021.
Each of the jurors got behind the wheel of all contenders to cast their votes on the six segments, which are Urban Model, Family SUV, Large Car, Large SUV, Performance Car, and 4×4.
In the Urban Model segment, the Peugeot 308 came out on top. The French firm has instilled a cool character as well as genuine premium appeal for its supermini – and an electric version is on the way, too.
In the Family SUV segment the Kia Sportage came out on top. The latest generation brings the South Korean car maker’s sharp new styling to its hugely popular SUV, as well as electrified powertrains.
In the Large Car segment the Ford Mustang Mach-E came out on top. While purists were not sure about giving the sporty Mustang name to an electric SUV, the move has paid off, as this stylish, practical car has been winning fans across the globe.
The Large SUV title goes to the BMW iX. The EV’s styling is bold and challenging and won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it’s a technical marvel, with a huge electric range and a futuristic, practical interior. It’s a worthy flagship for BMW’s EV line-up.
Another EV wins in the Performance Car sector. Here, the Audi e-tron GT takes top honours, with its low slung and genuinely unique styling winning many fans. It’s the first EV to wear Audi’s high-performance RS badging, too.
Finally, the 4×4 segment has been won by the Jeep Wrangler 4xe. The Wrangler off-road credentials are not in doubt, but the latest model has a hybrid powertrain, bringing improved economy without compromising off-roading.
The overall winner will be announced around March 8, which is International Women’s Day.
WWCOTY is the only car awards group made up exclusively of women motoring journalists. The objective of the awards is ‘to highlight the role of women in the car world and also to choose the best cars of the year’.
Voting is based on similar categories to other awards, such as safety, quality, price and environmental footprint.