SOUTH Korean car makers are winning hands down in the race for worldwide Car of the Year glory.

The Kia EV6 has been named the 2022 Car of the Year in the prestigious Car of the Year awards which are voted for by motoring journalists from 22 European countries. Meanwhile, the latest models from Kia and sister brands Hyundai and Genesis have been named as winners in four of the ten categories in the UK Car of the Year awards.

Both the EV6 and the technically similar Hyundai Ioniq 5 were amongst the final seven cars in contention for the Europe-wide Car of the Year accolade with the Kia emerging as winner and the Hyundai placed third with the Renault Mégane E-Tech separating the Korean twins in second place.

The innovative all-electric crossover was voted the overall winner by a 59-strong jury consisting of motoring journalists who originally had to narrow down a list of more than sixty models launched during 2021. Six of the final seven contenders were electric vehicles (EVs), further demonstrating the growing importance of electric vehicles to consumers.

Car of the Year president Frank Janssen says:"It's a nice surprise to see the Kia EV6 receive this award. It was about time that the brand and the group were rewarded, as they have worked so hard on this car. Kia's pace of progress is really impressive."

Back in Britain, the judging panel for the UK Car of the Year has named its' shortlist of ten category winners which will compete for the ultimate title and, while the EV6 does not get a mention, the Kia Ceed is named as best small hatchback car while Hyundai's Ionic 5 EV and i20N hot hatch are named as best family car and best performance car respectively.

The company's recently-launched prestige brand, Genesis, also gets a mention with its G70 Shooting Brake taking the best estate car category.

The UK awards are judged by a panel of 29 motoring journalists from around the country who were asked to choose their winners in vehicle classes. The top model in each of the segments has now qualified for the next stage - the category of UK Car of the Year 2022, which will be announced on March 8th.

: Best City Car - Fiat 500-e; Best Supermini - Škoda Fabia; Best Small Hatch - Kia Ceed; Best Family - Hyundai IONIQ; Best Estate - Genesis G70 Shooting Brake; Best Small Crossover - Toyota Yaris Cross; Best Medium Crossover - Škoda Enyaq; Best Large Crossover - BMW iX; Best Luxury - Porsche Taycan; Best Performance - Hyundai i20N.