BMW has won the World Car of the Year competition for the first time in 20 years

The BMW model won the title of "World Car of the Year", this victory was the first for the Bavarian brand since 2006. The results of the jury's vote were announced at the New York Auto Show, the press service of the award said.

The award went to the BMW iX3 crossover, which was recognized as both the best global car of 2026 and the best electric car in the world. In the finals of the main nomination, iX3 competed with Hyundai Palisade and Nissan Leaf.

As for other nominations, the Lucid Gravity was recognized as the best luxury car, the Hyundai Ioniq 6 N became the sports car of the year, the Chinese electric car Nio Firefly became the best city car, and the Mazda 6e/EZ—6 won the design award. BMW CEO Oliver Zipse, who will leave the company in May this year, was recognized as the Automotive person of the Year.

The World Car of the Year jury consists of 98 automotive journalists from 33 countries. They selected the best cars after test drives by secret ballot under the supervision of KPMG audit company.

The BMW iX3 crossover was introduced last fall. This is the brand's first model built on the Neue Klasse ("new class") platform. It is equipped with advanced autonomous driving features and has four high-performance computers, which BMW calls "super brains."

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On March 18, it was reported that the new BMW i3 electric sedan will enter mass production in August this year at the company in Munich, with the first deliveries starting this fall. The BMW i3 shares the Neue Class platform with the iX3 crossover.

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