From £999 fridge to £12 cup, the products of the year

AN electric car has been named product of the year in a diverse top ten list of items ranging from a £12 recycled cup to a £999 fridge.

Hyundai’s compact crossover Kona – which costs £35,100 after a Government ‘Plug-in Car Grant’ – was parked at the top of the chart by experts at Which?

New tax laws, which come into effect in April, mean motorists will make big savings by switching to battery electric vehicles.

The Kona managed 233 miles on a single charge in tests, but Hyunda claims it can reach 278 miles depending on conditions. The editor of Which?, Harry

Rose, said: ‘The Kona Electric isn’t just an excellent and affordable electric vehicle, it’s an excellent car full stop. That’s what makes it both a gamechanger and our pick as the product of 2019.’

Which? tested 3,500 new products throughout 2019. Coming in second was Sony’s 5in speaker – the £20 Sony SRS-XB01 – that ‘achieved a beautifully clear and driven sound’ despite its size.

Completing the top three was the Ikea Malfors mattress at just £99 for a double. Greener lifestyle trends also saw sixth place go to the £12 rCUP Leakproof Travel Cup, the world’s first reusable cup to be made from recycled paper ones. It won plaudits for its locking mechanism to prevent leaking, while it also retained heat well.

Meanwhile, Apple had two products in the top ten – its £159 headphones Airpods (2019) and the 11in iPad Pro at £769.

Also successful were the £70 Amazon Kindle, the Sony WH1000XM3 noise-cancelling headphones at £249 and LG’s GBB92STAXP fridge freezer at £999.

One surprise item to make the list was the Realme 3 Pro smartphone, which costs just £165.