HYUNDAI has emerged as the biggest winner in one of the UK's most prestigious, customer-focussed annual car awards, scooping no less than four category wins.

The Ioniq 5N was named Performance Car of the Year 2024 while the i10 city car, Kona and Tucson small and mid-sized SUVs were all awarded best in class titles by judges in this year's Auto Express awards.

The Korean brand notched-up the most wins in the annual awards which cover no fewer than 25 categories and recognise cars judged to offer the best all-round package for consumers, taking in everything from price and quality to running costs, driving appeal and practicality.

A range of brands from Dacia to Maserati were awarded gongs by Auto Express's judges with other significant winners including the new Citroen e-C3, which was named as Car of the Year, the Kia EV9 (Large Company Car of the Year), the Dacia Duster (Small SUV of the Year) and the MG3 (Affordable Hybrid Car of the Year).

Amongst premium brands, the BMW 7 Series was awarded the Luxury Car of the Year accolade and the MINI Countryman was named as Small Premium SUV of the Year. There were two titles for Porsche with the Cayenne named as Large Premium SUV of the Year and. the Taycan as Premium Electric Car of the Year.

Other winning brands included Skoda, Lexus, Honda, Maserati and Mazda while Ford enjoyed a clean sweep of the commercial vehicle categories, winning the Van of the Year Award for the Transit Courier, while the Ranger won Pick-Up of the Year and the e-Transit Custom was awarded Electric Van of the Year.

Auto Express editor Paul Barker had this to say: "It's been a really tricky but enjoyable task to pick out the top cars in each of our 25 awards categories, guiding consumers towards the models that are the best places to put their own money,"