Volkswagen and Honda EVs take the plaudits at the UK Car of the Year Awards

Published 01 March 2021

The first round of results in the UK Car of the Year Awards 2021 has concluded, with Honda and Volkswagen picking up awards for their electric vehicles.

Electric models were judged best in class in two of the 12 categories at the UK Car of the Year Awards 2021, with the award for Best City Car prize going to the Honda e and the Volkswagen ID.3 being named the winner of the Best Small Hatch class.

Ford claimed two awards with the Puma and Kuga models winning in the Best Small Crossover and Best Medium Crossover categories respectively. Skoda swept the Best Family and Best Estate categories with the Octavia emerging victorious.

It was a good year for Toyota/Lexus, being recognised in three categories at the UK Car of the Year Awards. The Toyota Yaris was named Best Supermini, while the popular GR version of the same car dominated the Best Performance category. Meanwhile, Lexus won the title of Best Open Top with its LC Convertible.

There was a successful return for the Defender name, too, as Land Rover’s updated version of the classic off-roader was named Best Large Crossover. Meanwhile, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class triumphed in the Best Luxury category.

BMW, the winner of more UK Car of the Year Awards than any other manufacturer, also picked up the prize for Best Coupe with its 4 Series.

This year’s judging panel, which comprises 29 motoring journalists based all over the UK, were asked to choose their winners in vehicle classes ranging from Best City Car to Best Medium Crossover to Best Performance. The top model in each of the segments has now qualified for the next stage – the category of UK Car of the Year 2021, which will be announced on 8 March 2021.

Full list of UK Car of the Year Awards 2021 category winners:

Best City Car – Honda e
Best Supermini – Toyota Yaris
Best Small Hatch – Volkswagen ID.3
Best Family – Skoda Octavia
Best Luxury – Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Best Estate – Skoda Octavia Estate
Best Small Crossover – Ford Puma
Best Medium Crossover – Ford Kuga
Best Large Crossover – Land Rover Defender
Best Coupe – BMW 4 Series
Best Open Top – Lexus LC Convertible
Best Performance – Toyota GR Yaris

Comments

conman on 1 March 2021

Another joke award all vehicles are out of the reach of a normal punter and the problems I have had with the electric recharging system are beyond belief. Even to the point of seeing 2 grown men fighting over a single electric charging point, just shows you how removed from reality these so called judges are.
my answer buy a Tesla they may be expensive and not the best quality but at least Tesla has invested in it's recharging infrastructure that you can rely on.

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NickNike on 1 March 2021

Are there really buyers mad enough to spend £26,120 on this awful package? If there are no Hyundai's in the line-up, I consider this to be a lame award. The Genesis range will be with us soon, so the luxury end better start looking over their shoulder.

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Ardenpops on 2 March 2021

The list includes the Yaris, Fords, Skodas and the ID3 which is more or less a Golf replacement. My local VW dealer tells me they are sold out for the next four months.

Other than the S Class there is nothing particularly exotic on the list and the Merc is in the luxury category.

What price range of vehicles do you think should be included for the “average punter”?

Availability of charging points is a separate issue. Especially as a lot of EV owners charge overnight at home and use their second car for long trips.

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Mr Nexus on 2 March 2021

Nah. I'll keep running my 13 year old Skoda Octavia diesel until the wheels fall off, then I'll ride my 58 year old motorcycle. By the time that dies, I'll be gone to. It'll be left to future generations then to sort out the mess the world has made for itself.

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