And then there were three
Words NZ Autocar | Images NZ Autocar, Kia
The list for the 2025 World Car of the Year Award started out with 52 contenders. Ninety six judges from 30 countries whittled that list down to a top ten, and now three remain in contention.
Two are from Korea. They are the Kia EV3 and Hyundai Inster, while rounding out the shortlist is BMW’s X3.
The Kia EV3 is also eligible for the World Car Design of the Year and the World EV of the Year awards for 2025.
The winners will be announced on April 16 during a live World Car Awards ceremony at the New York International Auto Show.
Kia’s EV3 has just launched here, incorporating many attributes from EV9 and EV5. However, it is available at a more affordable price, kicking off from $55,520. That’s for the Light SR model with the 58.3kWh battery pack. All the rest get an 81.4kWh battery pack, the Light LR model kicking things off from $62,220.
WLTP range is up to 605km for the 81kWh versions. It can be charged from 10-80 percent in 31 minutes when hooked up to ultrafast chargers (up to 128kW).Â
Kia’s AI Assistant offers advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), and Over-the-Air (OTA) updates.
EV3 is said to retain the innovative, practical interior of its bigger sibs, that optimises space, functionality, and comfort. And yet it is just 4300mm long. Despite that, it has luggage capacity of 460-1251L.
Its strong performance in heats of the 2025 World Car of the Year awards follows a double win for Kia EV9 in 2024. The large electric SUV from Kia took out the top title and World Car of the Year EV award.
