World Car of The Year 2025 – Kia EV3 emerges on top; Volvo EX90, Porsche 911 Carrera GTS win awards

The Kia EV3 has been crowned the 2025 World Car of The Year, beating two other finalists – the BMW X3 and the Hyundai Inster to the top spot.

Unveiled in May 2024, the Kia EV3 emerged as the Korean brand’s compact electric SUV joining the EV5, EV6 and EV9 to take on the likes of the Volvo EX30, itself a WCoTY finalist in 2024. This is the second win in two years for Kia, which also won WCoTY in 2024 with the EV9.

At 4,300 mm long, 1,850 mm wide, 1,560 mm tall with a 2,680 mm wheelbase, the Kia EV3 is larger than the Volvo EX30 but smaller than the Zeekr X and BYD Atto 3.

Packing a 400-volt electrical architecture as used in the EV5, rather than the 800-volt architecture in the EV6 and EV9, the EV3 gets an 81.4 kWh battery that can be recharged from 10-80% in around 31 minutes. On a full charge, the EV3 with this battery does up to 605 km of range; a Standard Range version with a smaller 58.3 kWh battery is capable of 436 km of range.

Other categories for the 2025 World Car of The Year awards saw the Volvo EX90 awarded 2025 World Luxury Car of The Year, with the Porsche Macan and Porsche Panamera as category finalists; meanwhile, the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS won 2025 World Performance Car of The Year with the BMW M5 and Porsche Taycan Turbo as category finalists.

The Hyundai Inster won the 2025 World Electric Car of The Year award with the Kia EV3 and Porsche Macan as category finalists, while the 2025 World Urban Car of the Year award went to the BYD Seagull, with the Hyundai Inster and MINI Cooper Electric as category finalists. Rounding up with the 2025 World Car Design of The Year award was the Volkswagen ID Buzz, with the Kia EV3 and Toyota Land Cruiser as category finalists.

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