Kia EV3 wins car of the year

Kia New Zealand managing director Todd McDonald, left, accepts the NZ Car of the Year trophy from Motoring Writers Guild president Matthew Hansen. Photo: supplied

The world’s car of the year is now New Zealand’s car of the year, after the Kia EV3 scooped New Zealand’s premier motoring award for 2025.

Announced last night as the New Zealand Car of the Year winner, the EV3 is the sixth all-electric vehicle to take New Zealand’s premier motoring award in the past seven years. A compact sport utility crossover, it is also the first vehicle from South Korean brand Kia to secure the title.

The EV3 is the 38th winner of the national trophy, awarded by the New Zealand Motoring Writers Guild. The national award follows international success for the vehicle, which has already been judged World Car of the Year for 2025.

Revealing the EV3 as this year’s winner of the national trophy, guild president Matthew Hansen noted that to win the crown, a vehicle must impress the guild’s motoring experts for multiple reasons.

In the case of the EV3, those reasons include its striking exterior design, a spacious and well-finished interior, leading edge technology, polished on-road manners, top safety rating, excellent range and rapid charging capability.

Four variants of the Kia EV3 are offered here, all deploying a 150kW/283Nm electric motor to drive the front wheels, but with a choice of 58.3kWh or 81.4kWh batteries. Pricing ranges from $55,520 to $75,220.

The EV3 beat nine other finalists in the New Zealand Car of the Year awards. They were the Audi A5; Cadillac Lyriq; Geely Starray EM-I; Mercedes-Benz G580; MG QS; Mini Aceman; Nissan Ariya; Subaru Forester; Volkswagen ID. Buzz.

The New Zealand award is open to all passenger vehicles launched over a 12-month period. To be eligible they must have been evaluated by each guild member over local roads. This allows voting to be based on the same experience an owner would have, in different parts of New Zealand.

The guild members evaluated all finalists against a range of criteria including, how the vehicle performs its intended role; its styling, interior design and accommodation; fit, finish and quality; ride and refinement; performance; road-holding and handling; value for money; active and passive safety and environmental responsibility.

The guild voting panel includes Drivesouth contributors David Thomson and Richard Bosselman.