Ioniq Honored as Car of Year in Europe

Hyundai Motor’s Eco-friendly car Ioniq is sweeping Europe, home to eco-friendly cars, as the Car of the Year.

The Ioniq Electric was selected by the Swedish car magazine Teknikens Värld as the Car of the Year, according to Hyundai Motor Europe on December 27. The judges called Ioniq Electric an 'electric car for people' and gave high scores on its driving performances, design, price, and mileage of 280 km on a single charge.

The Ioniq launched in the European market, was recognized for excellence as it was named the Car of the Year in other European countries apart from Sweden. In the past, the Ioniq Hybrid was selected as the Car of the Year by the French car magazine L’argus in its compact car division in France and picked out as the most competitive car in the UK.

In addition, Carbuyer, the UK's leading car evaluation website, selected the Ioniq Hybrid as the 'best hybrid vehicle' and the Ioniq Electric as the 'best duty-free car' among electric cars and hydrogen cars with no carbon dioxide emissions, respectively. Next Green Car, an eco-friendly car evaluation website honored the Ioniq Electric as the Car of the Year and the Compact Family Car of the Year. To top it off, the Ioniq Electric became the Car of the Year after outclassing Mercedes-Benz’s E-Class, the Volvo V90 and other cars in Norway.

The Ioniq enjoyed a steadily increase in sales, well received for its strong merchantability. The Hyundai Motor car which began full-fledged sales in Europe in August, sold a total of 3,289 units in the European market for four months including 427 units in September, 1,426 units in October and 1,382 units in November.

Its strong presence in Europe is expected to have a positive impact on its sales in the US, which will start next year. The eco-friendly car Ioniq was recognized for its performance, ranking first in fuel efficiency ahead of its launch in the US early this month. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed that the Ioniq Hybrid Blue had combined fuel economy of 58 MPG (based on 15-inch tires).