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An esteemed jury has selected five class winners for the German Car of The Year 2026 awards. The selections were made from a field of new vehicles launched in Europe within the past twelve months by a panel of 40 automotive journalists and industry experts.
Key Highlights
- Five distinct category winners have been chosen for the 2026 awards.
- The Dacia Bigster won the newly established “Budget” category.
- Skoda, Hyundai, Cadillac, and Lucid also secured victories in their respective classes.
- An overall winner will be selected following extensive final testing.
2026 Category Winners
The awards recognized excellence across five distinct segments. The Dacia Bigster secured the win in the program’s new “Budget” segment, for vehicles with an entry price up to 25,000 euros, highlighting the importance of affordable mobility.
In other categories, the Skoda Elroq was named the winner of the “Compact” segment (up to 40,000 euros). The “Premium” segment, for vehicles priced up to 70,000 euros, was won by the Hyundai Ioniq 9. Topping the “Luxury” category (over 70,000 euros) was the Cadillac Vistiq. Finally, the Lucid Air Sapphire was declared the winner of the “Performance” class.
Jury and Final Selection
The independent jury is composed of 40 German and international automotive journalists and experts. These jurors will now proceed to select an overall German Car of The Year 2026 winner from the five class leaders during extensive two days of testing. The final winner is scheduled to be announced on Friday, Nov. 17.
Program sponsors include Aitastic, AutoCom Associates, Bridgestone, Gentex, KST Motorenversuch, and ZF Friedrichshafen.
An overview of the jury is available at www.gcoty-awards.com.
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