Kia wins European Car of the Year, 2 Red Dot Design awards and more

New cars are in short supply in Sri Lanka, but owners of Kia automobiles have cause to cheer the popular Korean nameplate which has roared into 2022 winning the coveted European Car of the Year award, two Red Dot Design awards and a remarkable eight Top Safety Pick (TSP) awards from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Kia’s revolutionary EV6, the brand’s first dedicated battery electric vehicle (BEV), which stands out for its ultra-fast charging, swift acceleration and zero emissions, has been crowned the ‘2022 Car of the Year’ at the prestigious European Car of the Year (COTY) Awards, beating the shortlisted Hyundai IONIQ 5, Ford Mustang Mach-e, Škoda Enyaq iv, Cupra Born, Renault Mégane E-tech and Peugeot 308. Notably,the EV6 is the first Kia automobile to win an European Car of the Year award.

The EV6 also claimed overall victory at the prestigious 2022 Red Dot Design Awards, one of the largest design competitions in the world, winning the ‘Red Dot: Best of the Best’ accolade for its pioneering and forward-looking design and the Red Dot category award for ‘Innovative Products.’

Meanwhile, the Kia Telluride, Sorento, Seltos and Carnival built after March 2021 (with specific headlights), as well as the Kia Sportage and Soul (with optional front crash prevention and specific headlights) have all received TSP awards, while the Kia K5 and Stinger sedans have qualified as TSP+ winners.

All 2022 TSP winners earned ‘Good’ ratings in six crashworthiness tests – driverside small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, original side, roof strength and head restraint tests – as well as an ‘Advanced’ or ‘Superior’ rating for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian front crash prevention evaluations. In addition, the vehicle must have at least one available headlight system that earns a ‘Good’ or ‘Acceptable’ rating. For a TSP+ designation, the “Good” or “Acceptable” headlight system must be standard equipment.

Kia Motors (Lanka) Managing Director Andrew Perera described the news of these awards as electrifying news for Kia enthusiasts in Sri Lanka who have been unable to experience the latest models due to import restrictions to conserve foreign exchange.

“The EV6 in particular is an exciting sign of what’s still to come in our evolving electrified line-up, and we look forward to the time when we can resume the import of new world-class models from Kia, including the award winning EV6 which combines the best of eco-friendly operation with adrenaline-pumping performance,” he said.