It’s been yet another crazy year for the car industry, with the knock-on impacts of Covid-19 being compounded by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, rapidly rising inflation and now increasing interest rates to combat the inflation.
But through all that, there have still been some fine new cars launched in 2022, as well as several cars from 2021 that were ineligible for last year’s awards but have become eligible this year.
What is noticeable is that there were fewer new cars launched this year, and in particular, far fewer petrol and diesel new cars. This is one of those kock-on effects of Covid – car companies were shut down for lengthy periods during 2020 and were therefore unable to work on developing new cars, resulting in fewer new models being released this year (and probably next year as well).
The transition to electric vehicles is also a reason for fewer new petrol models being released. With the UK’s 2030 deadline for the end of new petrol and diesel car sales looming large, and similar deadlines appearing all over Europe, car manufacturers have reached the point where it’s no longer viable to develop and launch a new fossil-fuel model as it won’t be on sale for long enough to recover the investment.
This has been particularly noticeable for convertibles, where we had no new models at all launched this year and therefore no award. There were also fewer small cars launched, with almost a total absence of new city cars and superminis in 2022.
The flip side to this, of course, is that there’s an ever-increasing number of electric models hitting new car showrooms and this year’s awards reflect this change.
Our eligibility rules
Our awards have two specific conditions for eligibility that make them different to many other Car of the Year awards.
Firstly, a car must be available to view and buy in the UK by the time entries close – not available to order, sight unseen, for delivery in several months’ time.
Secondly, a car must have a valid four-star or five-star Euro NCAP safety rating. If a car has not been tested by Euro NCAP, it won’t be considered but will be eligible next year if it subsequently gets a suitable safety rating. And that has happened in this year’s results.
And the winner is…
Our Expert Rating Index, based on reviews from 30 of the UK’s top motoring websites, shows that electric vehicles are continuing to achieve better review scores than their petrol and diesel equivalents. This was evident last year, and has strengthened further this year.
Based on all of the car reviews published by the UK motoring media over the last year, the highest-rated new car of 2022 is the Kia EV6.
The Car Expert’s Car of the Year 2022: Kia EV6
The Kia EV6 wasn’t launched in 2022, but was ineligible last year as it hadn’t received its Euro NCAP stamp of approval. However, it was awarded a five-star safety rating in May this year so became eligible for this year’s awards.
As well as taking the major prize for Car of the Year 2022, the Kia EV6 is also our Best New Medium Car.
The EV6 is the start of a new dawn for Kia, giving the company an EV that is genuinely desirable. Kia also makes the excellent Niro EV (which replaced the equally excellent previous-generation e-Niro) and the Soul EV, but it’s fair to say that these are worthy cars rather than exciting ones.
Together with its sister vehicles, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Genesis GV60, the Kia EV6 is propelling the Hyundai Group to being a market leader for electric cars, rather than its historical position of being a value-for-money alternative to European models.
The EV6 has been showered with awards over the last 12 months, including the prestigious European Car of the Year, and ours are merely the latest accolades to go its way. It’s inevitably fairly similar to the Hyundai Ioniq 5, although the Kia’s sleeker styling may well age better than the ’80s-inspired, retro-futuristic Hyundai.
Inside, the Kia looks and feels as premium as anything from Mercedes or BMW. Being an electric vehicle, the interior is more spacious than you’d expect – although rear headroom isn’t as generous as its Hyundai sibling.
On the road, the EV6 has been praised for being a more enjoyable car to drive than the Hyundai. Acceleration is also sharp, which is typical for an EV, while the battery range is an impressive 300+ miles to make range anxiety a thing of the past for most households.
Like most EVs, the Kia EV6 isn’t cheap. Bu you do get a lot of car for the money – something Kia’s always been good at delivering. As of December 2022, it holds an outstanding Expert Rating of 87%, which puts it in very exalted company and indicates outstanding scores from all 29 reviews we currently have on file.
