The new all-electric Volkswagen ID.4 has been named supreme winner at the prestigious 2021 World Car of the Year Awards.
The ID. family of vehicles launched in 2020 with the ID.3. This compact model and the award-winning ID.4 crossover SUV will be joined by other battery-electric vehicles wearing the ID. badge in the years ahead.
Recognising the worldwide impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the auto industry, the World Car of the Year awards were held remotely this year. Categories are voted on each year by a panel of over 90 automotive journalists from 28 different countries.
Taking out the top prize at the prestigious World Car of the Year awards, the Volkswagen ID.4 has been crowned the 2021 World Car of the Year, as voted by 93 international journalists from 28 countries that make up the World Car Awards jury panel. The votes were tabulated by KPMG.
This year’s winner was chosen from an initial entry list of 24 vehicles from all over the world, then a short list of three finalists was announced in March. Two of the top three vehicles in contention were battery-electric models.
The Volkswagen ID.4’s win of the World Car of the Year award is the German manufacturer’s fifth win in the category, with two generations of Golf, the Polo and the UP! all having won the top prize in years past.
“We are particularly pleased about our ID.4 being named World Car of the Year,” says Ralf Brandstätter, CEO Volkswagen Cars. “Not only because it is one of the most important car awards in the world – but because the jury also honoured a great idea and a great team.”
The ‘third age of Volkswagen’ effectively launched with the ID. family. Long the European exponent of mass-market appeal, Volkswagen’s era-defining jump from Beetle to Golf in the mid-1970s is now being replicated in the 21st Century. The iconic, long-lived Golf hatchback is set to hand the baton to the German carmaker’s new era of CO2-free mobility – ID.
Built on a modular platform designed to incorporate scalable battery systems and offer ideal weight distribution and vehicle handling, the ID. range launched in European markets last year with the ID.3 and World Car of the Year award-winning ID.4 compact crossover SUV. An ID.5 coupe-style SUV on par with the current Tiguan will eventually become available too, while Volkswagen’s strong commercial vehicle division will also offer up its own take on electric mobility, with the heritage Kombi van-aping ID.Buzz still a couple of years away from production, but already highly anticipated.
Vehicles eligible for the World Car of the Year award must be produced in volumes of at least 10,000 units per year, must be priced below the luxury-car level in their primary markets, and must be “on-sale” in at least two major markets on at least two separate continents between May 1, 2020 and May 1, 2021.
Watch the 2021 World Car of the Year award winners announcement at youtube.com/worldcartv
