‘CLA is a big car’
The opinion of women and men about cars apparently does not align. At least, that seems to be the vision of the organization of Women’s Worldwide Car of the Year. These are – divided into six categories – the cars of the year according to an expert jury consisting solely of women.
There are various Car of the Year elections; international, national, and variations thereof. The Women’s Worldwide Car of the Year (WWCOTY) is one of them. Which car and cars deserve the title Women’s Worldwide Car of the Year is determined by an international expert jury consisting of 54 female automotive journalists. From a selection of 55 automotive candidates, these are the winners in six categories.
In the ‘compact car’ category, the new Nissan Leaf has been named Women’s Worldwide Car of the Year. In the ‘Compact SUV’ category, the Skoda Elroq takes home the trophy, while the Leaf and the Elroq are both, in a sense, compact crossovers. The Mercedes-Benz CLA also wins the top prize, but in the remarkably chosen ‘Large Car’ category, even though it is Mercedes-Benz’s smallest sedan. Euro NCAP still classified the CLA under the label ‘small family car’.
The Hyundai Ioniq 9 has been chosen by the expert jury as the winner in the ‘Large SUV’ category. That is indeed a large SUV. The Toyota 4Runner, not available in the Netherlands, wins in the ‘4×4’ category, the Lamborghini Temerario in the ‘Performance Car’ group.
Ultimately, one of these six cars will also be chosen as the ‘overall winner’. Last year, that was the Hyundai Santa Fe.