New Car Award Program Lauds Ford Mustang Mach-E

Sometimes the world of automotive awards can be downright confusing. The Motor Trend "Car/Truck of the Year Award" is for the traditionalists. And there are also awards from various auto writing associations like the New England Motor Press Association, which looks at the best "snow driving" machines (please see my bio at the end of this piece for full disclosure). Then there are the North American Car Of the Year Awards that put cars and trucks through their paces. Fords took a number of spots in the Kelley Blue Book best car program. The Mustang Mach-E is the electric vehicle winner.

A European' Car of the Year' Program

There's a new one out there now in Europe run by a "panel of world-renowned car designers, engineers, auto industry titans, motorsport legends, specialist journalists, broadcasters, and media professionals." Last week, they held their vote for their "Best Cars of the Year 2021/2022.

There was a tie in the first-ever voting for first place, the Kia EV6 and the Hyundai IONIQ 5. There's little wonder there was a tie for this particular pair of vehicles as Hyundai owns Kia and their vehicles are pretty much corporate twins. The EV6 and the IONIQ 5 are both crossovers with very similar lines.

The judges noted that the shared win proves that the Hyundai-Kia group is shaking up the "old world order," said Eui-Sun Chung, chair of the Hyundai-Kia group.

Vehicles from manufacturers in South Korea, Germany, Japan, the USA, Italy, and France impressed the experienced team of Best COTY (Car of the Year) judges. New vehicles from Ford, Audi, Toyota, Fiat, and Porsche were among the 10 Best winners. Indeed, Ford was the lone US winner.

Mustang Mach-E A Solid Choice

The choice was solid as the judges picked the automaker's Mustang Mach-E, which came in fifth on the voting.

The judges came from diverse backgrounds. As noted, the judges' backgrounds included vehicle retailers, automotive consultants, major event and motor club organizers, plus a handful of carefully selected real-world car buyers.

Carmakers from South Korea, Germany, Japan, the USA, Italy, and France impressed the hugely experienced and genuinely unique team of national and international judges.

Somewhat remarkably, the 10 models voted for by the judges in this year's Top 10 are from 10 separate brands, based in six countries spread across the world's Top Three car-producing continents, Asia, Europe, and North America.

Joint Winners To Be Honored

The reigning joint world champs – the Kia EV6 and the Hyundai IONIQ 5 – are set to be two of the many star attractions expected on the Best Cars of the Year stand at the British Motor Show in August. At that time, the selection, evaluation, test driving, and voting process for the Best Cars of the Year 2022/23 project will begin.

Here’s a look at the first crop of Best Cars of the Year 2021/2022:

• First: Kia EV6 – Hyundai IONIQ 5
• Third: Audi E-Tron GT
• Fourth: Toyota GR Yaris
• Fifth: Ford Mustang Mach-E
• Sixth: Fiat 500
• Seventh: Porsche Taycan
• Eigth: Citroen Ami
• Ninth: Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
• Tenth: VW Polo

A couple of words of explanation are needed here. First, there are first and third place winners because the joint win of the Kia EV5 and the Hyundai IONIQ 5 are technically first and second place winners combined. Second, this is a European contest, so models not seen on this side of the Atlantic like the Citroen Ami and VW Polo are listed.

Marc Stern has been an automotive writer since 1971 when an otherwise normal news editor said, "You're our new car editor," and dumped about 27 pounds of auto stuff on my desk. I was in heaven as I have been a gearhead from my early days. As a teen, I spent the usual number of misspent hours hanging out at gas stations Shell and Texaco (a big thing in my youth) and working on cars. From there on, it was a straight line to my first column for the paper, "You Auto Know," an enterprise that I handled faithfully for 32 years. Not many people know that I also handled computer documentation for a good part of my living while writing YAN. My best writing, though, was always in cars. My work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Mechanix Illustrated, AutoWeek, SuperStock, Trailer Life, Old Cars Weekly, Special Interest Autos, etc. You can follow me on: Twitter or Facebook.