India-bound Jaguar I-Pace wins 2019 World Car of the Year award

-    Jaguar dominated the 2019 World Car of the Year awards and bagged three for itself. 

-    Suzuki Jimny is the World Urban Car of the Year, beating the India-built Santro.

-  Audi A7 and McLaren 720S won the Luxury car and Performance car awards, respectively. 

The Jaguar I-Pace has claimed the coveted 2019 World Car of the Year award, beating the likes of Audi e-tron, and the Volvo S60/V60. The India-bound pure electric SUV also won the World Green Car and World Car Design of the Year title, taking home a total of three trophies. 

Jaguar’s electric SUV is now the first vehicle to win in three categories in the same year. The other two finalists for the Design award included the Suzuki Jimny and the Volvo XC40, while the I-Pace took away the Green car honours from Audi e-Tron and the Hyundai Nexo. 

On the other hand, the Suzuki Jimny has been declared the World Urban Car. The Jimny beat the two Korean vehicles in the category – the Hyundai Santro and Kia Soul. Suzuki has managed to rank among the ‘top three finalists’ in the World Urban Car category for three consecutive years and took away the award this year with the Jimny, which has become a prime favourite across the globe. 

Carrying forward from the A8’s in 2018, the new-gen Audi A7 bagged the World Luxury Car trophy this year. The sensuous four-door coupe beat its own stablemate Q8 and BMW’s reborn 8 Series to win the top honours. It also marked the 10th time Audi has won a World Car award in our 15 year history. And so Audi continues to hold the record for the most won World Car Awards. Moving to the World Performance Car, the McLaren 720S received the accolade amongst the other finalists – Aston Martin Vantage and the Mercedes-Benz AMG 4-door Coupe. 

This is also the first time Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has won a World Green Car award. Previously JLR has won a World Car of the Year award in 2017 (for the F-Pace) and four World Car Design of the Year awards; two of them consecutively. Also, it is the third consecutive Design win for the Tata-owned British marque and the fifth time overall having won the World Car Design of the Year award in 2018 for Range Rover Velar, in 2012 for Evoque, and in 2013 for the F-Type. No other car manufacturer has achieved these many Design wins in the 15-year history of the awards.

The vehicles for these coveted awards were selected and voted on by an international jury panel which comprised of 86 prominent automotive journalists from 24 countries around the world. Each juror was appointed by the World Car Steering Committee on the basis of his or her expertise, experience, credibility, and influence.