We finally have a winner! The Korean SUV wins the upper hand in the 51st edition of the prestigious award for Best Car of the Year in Spain, achieving for Kia the first of the awards that the ABC newspaper awards year after year to the most complete model of the season.
We have been warning about it for a long time in the various video tests that we have been publishing in Autocasión: the Kia Sportage is an exceptional model that we must take into account in the highly competitive segment of compact SUVs. And now his good skills have also been recognized by the prestigious ABC Award for Best Car of the Year 2023. The Korean SUV, twin brother of the equally fabulous Hyundai Tucson, has won the 51st edition of the award that extols the qualities of what a professional jury and a large number of loyal ABC readers consider to be the best launch of the year for the Spanish automobile market.
Video proof of the KIA Sportage hybrid, the Best Car of the Year 2023 in Spain
The Sportage has prevailed over the Renault Austral, which has been second, and the Cupra Born, third classified and first among the 100% electric. Outside the podium, the list of finalists is completed by the Alfa Romeo Tonale, Citroën C5 X, Dacia Jogger, Ford Mustang Mach-E GT, Honda Civic, Opel Astra, Peugeot 308, Polestar 2 and Volkswagen Taigo. According to the organizers, the determination of the winner is obtained from the combination of the votes of three different juries: a professional jury made up of 34 specialized journalists (represents 80% of the total result), a vote cast by ABC Premium subscribers (15%) and a third party made up of registered users (5%).
The Kia Sportage wins by a wide margin
So the final percentages they boosted Sportage with 25.13%. It was followed by the Austral (15.30%), the Cupra Born (8.59%), the Peugeot 308 (7.12%), the Opel Astra (6.20%), the Alfa-Romeo Tonale (6.14 %), Ford Mustang Mach-E GT (6.11%), Citroen C5X (5.86%), Polestar 2 (5.50%), Honda Civic (4.94%), Volkswagen Taigo (4.81%) and the Dacia Jogger (4.27%).
In addition to the tremendous evolutionary leap that the latest generation of the Sportage represents in terms of design, technology and quality, the Asian SUV also stands out for its very varied mechanical range in which we find traditional diesel and gasoline versions with and without microhybridization (here you can see how the Sportage TGDi MHEV is doing), conventional hybrid versions and even a plug-in hybrid version with the ‘0 Emissions’ environmental label thanks to which the user can travel a few 70 km in electric mode without consuming a single drop of fuel.
This victory represents the Kia’s first conquest in the history of the ABC Award for Best Car of the Year. The brand that has won the award the most times is Citroën, which is tied with Renault (both have 10 awards.) Seat, with eight; Hyundai, with four; Fiat, with three; Ford, with two; and Chrysler, Alfa Romeo, Opel, Simca and Talbot, with one, consume this particular walk of fame.