By Moses Akaigwe
Kia EV3 has been named the winner of the prestigious 2025 World Car of the Year – the second consecutive WCOTY win for the compact all-electric SUV, and sixth KIA victory at the World Car Awards.
The voting results were tabulated and a live announcement of winners in six award categories was made at the New York International Auto Show on Wednesday, April 16, 2025.
The World Car of the Year (WCOTY) award is considered the most prestigious award in the global auto industry.
It recognises the best car in the world, evaluating it based on overall performance, design, safety, and environmental impact.
Wednesday’s announcement of KIA EV3 as the 2025 WCOTY came at the time the brand’s authorised distributor /assembler in Nigeria – KIA Motors Nigeria – is introducing an advance booking option for intending buyers of its luxury electric cars, including the EV5 and EV9 (with the EV3 expected to follow later).
A jury of 96 distinguished international automotive journalists from 30 countries selected the Top Three in the World finalists by secret ballot based on their evaluation of each eligible vehicle as part of their on-going professional work.
This is the second consecutive World Car of the Year win for Kia and third World Car of the Year win overall. The Kia EV9 won last year’s top honour while the Kia Telluride won the title in 2020. This year’s win brings the total number of awards won by Kia to six in World Car’s 21-year history.
“It is an immense honour for everyone at Kia that the EV3 has been awarded the 2025 World Car of the Year title. 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,” said Ho Sung Song, President and CEO at Kia.
Also reacting in Lagos, Kia Motors Nigeria Managing Director, Mr. Jacky Hathiramani, described the award for the EV3 as heart-warming news that will help the roll-out of Kia electric vehicles in Nigeria
“Kia Nigeria is rolling out a full range of EVs to fit budget of every segment in 2025. We urge our customers to place advanced bookings to receive timely deliveries,” Hathiramani said
The KIA EV3 was chosen from an initial list of 52 contenders from all over the world then a short list of three finalists as announced on March 18, 2025.
The Sun Motoring had reported in its March 31, 2025 edition that the 2025 Top Three in the World finalists were the BMW X3, the Hyundai Inster / Casper Electric and the Kia EV3.
It is important to state that vehicles eligible for World Car of the Year title must be produced in volumes of at least 10,000 units/year, must be priced below the luxury-car level in their primary markets, and must be “on-sale” in at least two major markets (China, Europe, India, Japan, Korea, Latin America, USA) on at least two separate continents within the period January 1, 2024 and March 30, 2025.
Auto industry analysts in Nigeria believe that the prestigious 2025 World Car of the Year award for the EV3 will give a huge boost to the current efforts being made by Kia Motors Nigeria to introduce the KIA electric vehicle range into the Nigerian market, which includes offering advance booking opportunities to intending buyers .
“Don’t forget that before the 2025 World Car of the Year award for the EV3, both the EV3 and EV5 had won many other big awards across the globe. That simply means that KIA manufactures some of the best electric vehicles in the world. And this is a unique selling point for the EVs as they arrive at KIA showrooms in Nigeria,” said Chris Essien, a car enthusiastm
Apart from the EV series, KIA Nigeria is also introducing a range of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) cars and buses as part of the efforts to remain in the forefront of the drive to greener energy and sustainability in Nigeria.
Recently, KIA Motors Nigeria further demonstrated the capacity to meet the vehicular demands of the Nigerian market by investing in a new technology which has boosted assembly capacity and efficiency at its modern auto plant in the Isolo area of Lagos..