The new Volkswagen Golf GTI has been crowned Premium Car Award by ICOTY 2026, beating a strong field of high-end contenders. The iconic performance hatchback impressed the jury with its blend of driving dynamics, practicality and everyday usability to top a diverse shortlist of contenders.
The Golf GTI outscored rivals including the BMW iX1 LWB, BMW X3, Mercedes-Benz G-Class, MG Cyberster, Skoda Kodiaq, Skoda Octavia RS, and Toyota Camry, showcasing its versatility as both a fun-to-drive car and a premium car. Each of these vehicles was evaluated on key criteria such as performance, build quality, innovation, safety features, comfort, value for money, and luxury.
The ICOTY awards bring together respected automotive journalists and experts from across India who independently score each contender across multiple dynamic and static evaluation parameters. This process ensures that winners are chosen through an objective and comprehensive assessment.
For the 2026 award year, the ICOTY jury included Vikrant Singh and Sagar Bhanushali from Carwale, Dhruv Behl and Ishan Raghava from autoX, Yogendra Pratap and Dipayan Dutta from Auto Today, Aspi Bhathena and Gaurav Davare from Car India, Sirish Chandran and Aatish Mishra from Evo India, Pablo Chaterji and Kartik Ware from Motoring World, Rohit Paradkar and Kranti Sambhav from Overdrive, Arpit Mahendra from TOI Auto, Tushar Kamath from Cardekho.com, Abhay Verma from Turbocharged, Bob Rupani, and Kushan Mitra from The Print.
