The BMW iX3 has bagged the top prize at the 2026 World Car of the Year awards at an event at the New York Auto Show, with a second award as 2026's World Electric Vehicle. Almost as prestigious as being named Electrifying.com's Car of the Year for 2026 at the turn of the year and the latest in a series of accolades for the car spearheading BMW's 'Neue Klasse' reset initiative.
It's the first BMW to be named World Car of the Year since the 3-Series in 2006, which certainly vindicates BMW's investment in this new generation of cars. It's going to have strong competition in 2026 though – check out our head to head comparison with the Mercedes GLC Electric and Volvo EX60.
Other winners include the Hyundai Ioniq 6 N, which was named the 2026 World Performance Car, and a new winner in the World Urban Car category in the form of Nio's stylish Firefly electric supermini, which we're hoping will make it to the UK soon.
The World Car Awards are decided by a jury panel of 98 automotive journalists from 33 countries across the world, which includes me and a number of other UK journalists from notable publications. We have all been evaluating the most significant new cars through the year to select the 2026 winner, with the finalists announced back in January. The voting for what is now the 21st annual awards took place via a secret ballot that was overseen by auditing firm KPMG.
The decision was based on testing at events around the world, as well as the annual World Car Awards test drive event in Pasadena, California where jurors gathered to assess the contenders back to back.
For the last few years the top prize has been one by Hyundai/Kia models – the Kia EV9 in 2024, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 in 2023 and the Ioniq 5 in 2022. Volkswagen is the most successful carmaker when it comes to the top award, with five World Car of the Year titles to its name. The last time it won was in 2021, with the ID.4 SUV.
The 2026 awards mean that BMW has now drawn level with Audi as the winningest manufacturers in the 21 years that World Car Awards have been running, with 11 gongs across all the categories. The last combustion engined car to win the World Car of the Year award was the Kia Telluride back in 2020.
The full list of 2026 winners is as follows:
World Car of the Year
BMW iX3 – winner
Hyundai Palisade
World Electric Vehicle
BMW iX3 – winner
World Luxury Car
Cadillac Vistiq
Lucid Gravity – winner
World Performance Car
BMW M2 CS
Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray
Hyundai Ioniq 6 N – winner
World Urban Car
Baojun Yep Plus / Chevrolet Spark EUV
Firefly – winner
Hyundai Venue
World Car Design of the Year
Kia PV5
Mazda 6e/EZ-6 – winner
