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Kia EV9 wins 2024 World Car of the Year and World Electric Car at New York Auto Show

The Hyundai Group refuses to release its kung-fu grip on winning prestigious vehicle awards, especially those for electric vehicles. In 2020, Kia took the overall World Car of the Year (WCOTY) title with the Telluride, won World Performance Car with the EV6 GT, and won the World Urban Car category with the Kia Soul EV. In 2021, after the Hyundai Group walked away with nothing but a free lunch, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 won the 2022 World Car of the Year laurels, plus World Electric Vehicle and World Car Design of the Year, followed in 2023 by the Hyundai Ioniq 6 winning the same three awards. Kia returns to the top step today, the new EV9 announced at the New York Auto Show as the 2024 World Car of the Year and World Electric Vehicle. Because the South Koreans like to do this in threes, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N won World Performance Car.  One hundred automotive scribes from 29 countries tested 38 vehicles for the main prize. The qualifications for entry are that a car must exceed 10,000 units in production annually, be on sale in at least two major global markets, and be priced below the luxury options in their respective regions. The EV9 beat the BYD Seal and the Volvo EX30 to the WCOTY title. Thirty-two cars vied for honors in the electric category, the EV9 outdoing the BMW i5 and the Volvo EX30. The German and the Swede aren't leaving New York with nothing, however, as the BMW 5 Series and i5 won the World Luxury Car title, and the EX30 won the World Urban Car trophy.  The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N outdid 16 other performance cars. We're sure there are engineers in Germany looking hard into their beer right now, the Ioniq 5 N pipping the M2 and XM to the victory circle.  The surprise of the bunch is the inclusion of the Toyota Prius, the global hybrid icon thrashing 70 other entries to win the 2024 World Car Design of the Year award. The other two finalists? The Ford Bronco and the Ferrari Purosangue. Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the Prius. 

Volvo introduces 2022 C40 Recharge crossover, announces all EV sales will be online-only

Volvo plans to become an electric car brand, with EVs making up half of sales by 2025, and all sales by 2030. Volvo has now also announced that as part of its electric future, it will move all vehicle sales to online-only, and will expand its customer services. The first car to be sold online-only will be the all-electric C40 Recharge, which the company showed off in a sneak peek during in the “Volvo Moment: Recharge” video above. The 2022 Volvo C40 Recharge is a fastback-style “crossover coupe” with an upright stance. It features a 78-kilowatt-hour battery providing 260 miles of range, according to Volvo. With electric motors front and rear, it'll do 0-62 miles per hour in 4.9 seconds. Volvo claims a 0-80% charge in 40 minutes. It will be VolvoÂ’s second car (after the XC40 Recharge) using the Google Android Automotive Operating System for its infotainment, much like that introduced on the Polestar 2. The C40 will also be completely leather-free, signaling a move away from leather for all Volvos in the future. To begin, the Volvo C40 Recharge is available for order online at Volvo Studios in New York, Milan and Tokyo. Volvo C40 Recharge View 35 Photos Along with sales going completely online, Volvo will expand its Care by Volvo program beyond vehicle subscriptions to offer a complete care package. Customers can enjoy greater convenience, with the package covering insurance, warranty, maintenance, roadside assistance and even home charging options. Volvo cars can still be custom ordered, but it will also offer a number of pre-configured packages for faster delivery of its vehicles to customers. Pricing will be pre-fixed, removing the need for haggling with a dealer and wondering if youÂ’re getting the best price for your vehicle. Dealers arenÂ’t being put out to pasture, though; Volvo says its retail partners “remain a crucial part of the customer experience and will continue to be responsible for a variety of important services such as selling, preparing, delivering and servicing cars.” Volvo intends to become fully climate neutral by 2040. To help with that, it will adopt some of the same practices as spinoff brand Polestar, by enacting full transparency in its supply chain, and using blockchain technology for sensitive raw materials like cobalt. Volvo will also perform on-the-ground audits to ensure everythingÂ’s on the up-and-up in its supply chain. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party.

Geely targeting US market in 2016 with help from Volvo

Following reports that it'd team up with corporate sibling Volvo on a Chinese-market car comes a report from Bloomberg that Geely would reattempt its entry into the US market. The Chinese brand had a display at the 2006 North American International Auto Show, but has been absent from the US scene ever since.
The Geely branded cars will be jointly developed with Volvo, and bank on the Swedish manufacturers reputation for safety and reliability. Geely's CEO, Gui Shengyue, explained, "Our acquisition of Volvo enhanced our image and overseas consumers are seeing us as an international company." This represents a change in rhetoric for the brand, after Geely Chairman Li Shufu hamstrung the idea of a closer pairing, citing fears that an association would harm Volvo's reputation. The news of projects between Geely and Volvo first broke last week, although it's unclear if the cars that end up coming to the US will be the same as those being sold in China.
As we reported last week, Geely is already aiming to be the biggest brand in the Chinese domestic market. With this move to the US market, it's also attempting to overtake Chery as China's largest automotive exporter. According to the Bloomberg report, Geely has already moved 180,000 units overseas, which is extremely close to the 184,800 vehicles sold by Chery in 2012. By 2018, Geely anticipates that 60 percent of its sales will be occur outside of the PRC.