Sportage, Car of the Year in Spain and Greece

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] Kia announced on the 16th that its compact sport utility vehicle (SUV), the Sportage, was selected as the Car of the Year in Spain and Greece, respectively.

In Spain, the Sportage won the 2023 Spain Car of the Year (ABC Car of the Year 2023) award hosted by the media outlet ABC. This is the first time a Kia brand vehicle has received the Spain Car of the Year award.

Now in its 51st year, this award is considered the most prestigious automotive award locally. It is judged by 34 automotive journalists from the media and public voting, evaluating design, new technology, reliability, power performance, and safety. This year, the Sportage beat out the Renault Austral, Cupra Born, Peugeot 308, Opel Astra, among others.

In Greece, it was also selected as the 2023 Greece Car of the Year. It won by a large margin over the Opel Astra, BMW X1, Peugeot 308, DS4, and others. The company stated that the safety, driving performance, and innovative features based on connectivity technology left a strong impression on the judges.

The company emphasized the significance of receiving an award in the highly competitive compact SUV segment in Europe recently. Earlier this month, the vehicle also won two awards as Scotland’s Family SUV of the Year and Hybrid Car of the Year. The Sportage sold approximately 132,000 units in the Western European market through November this year, making it the best-selling model among European sales.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.