Kia's 2025 World Car Triumph Makes Trump's Auto Export Demands Ring Hollow
European and Asian automakers have dominated the 2025 World Car of the Year awards, announced at the New York International Auto Show today, starting with Hyundai and Kia.
Kia's electric EV3 took out the overall World Car of the Year award and no American brands featured in any of the six awards, making White House's demands for Europe and Asia to buy more American autos look hollow.
No US brand even featured in the top three finalists in any category, which included Performance, Luxury, EV, Urban and Design awards, all judged by 93 of the world's most respected automotive journalists.
Kia and Hyundai Motor Group stablemate Hyundai has been on a roll, winning the World Car of the Year award in 2020 with the Telluride and again last year with the EV9, with Kia CEO and President Ho Sung Song calling the award an honor.
'It is an immense honor for everyone at Kia that the EV3 has been awarded the 2025 World Car of the Year title, Song said.
'This award highlights Kia's global leadership in providing design-led, technologically advanced, sustainable mobility solutions and how the EV3's class-leading attributes redefine the user experience for customers worldwide.'
The World Car of the Year awards had 18 top three finalists, with eight German vehicles, six South Koreans, one Swede (the Volvo EX90), a British car, a Japanese SUV and a Chinese car and, pointedly, not a single car from a US brand.
(That's not to say the US brands were a bust at every international award in the last year, because the Cadillac Lyriq won the German Car Awards trophy as the best Luxury vehicle last year.)
Porsche's 911 Carrera GTS dominated the World Performance Car award, giving the German brand its eight World Car award in its 21-year history, fending off challenges from the BMW M5 and the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT.
The World Car EV award went to the Hyundai Inster ahead of the Kia EV3 and the Porsche Macan Electric. It gave the brand its third win in the award in the last three years, following the 2023 triumph of the Ioniq6 and the Ioniq5's 2022 win.
Meanwhile, the World Car Luxury award was taken out by the Volvo EX90 EV SUV ahead of the Porsche Macan and Panamera stablemates, while the Volkswagen ID.Buzz dominated the World Car Design award ahead of the Kia EV3 and the Toyota LandCruiser.
There was also the World Car Urban award, which went to the BYD Seagull/Dolphin Mini, ahead of the Hyundai Inster and the Mini Cooper Electric, with the trophy accepted by the World Car Award's Person of the Year, BYD Executive Vice President Stella Li.
"We are incredibly proud and honored that the BYD Seagull/Dolphin Mini has been recognized as the World Urban Car in the prestigious World Car Awards 2025.
"This achievement reflects our commitment to providing sustainable technologies and exceptional service to customers worldwide.
"At BYD, we are dedicated to accelerating green mobility and contributing to the global effort to cool the Earth by 1°C.'
While U.S. President Donald Trump last week chided European officials for using safety rules to make it 'impossible' to sell American cars on the continent, the data on the World Car of the Year award winners and finalists tell a different story.
Hyundai, Kia, Toyota and BYD have all met European safety, emissions and crash standards.
The longest vehicle from the World Car Awards trophy winners is the Volvo EX90 at 198.3 inches, while the shortest of the top-selling US-branded vehicles, the Ford F-Series, is 209 inches long (though it ranges up to 250 inches).
Of the other World Car Award winners, the Kia EV3 is only 169 inches long, the BYD Seagull is 160 inches, the Hyundai Inster is 169 inches and the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS is 178 inches.
Only the commercial-based Volkswagen ID.Buzz is longer, with two wheelbase variants starting at 185 inches.
The top-selling U.S.-branded vehicles in 2025 were the Ford F Series, the Chevrolet Silverado, the Dodge Ram, the GMC Sierra and the Jeep Grand Cherokee, none of which are a comfortable fit for European roads and car parks.
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