2024 WCOTY Finalists Out; Indian-Made Suzuki Fronx Makes The Cut

The planet’s highest honours for the car world are entering their last lap. After the first round of voting has been completed, the World Car Awards have declared the shortlist for all its categories, and the Maruti Suzuki Fronx is a finalist for 2024 World Urban Car.

Joining it in the Top Five are the Abarth 500e, BYD Dolphin, Lexus LBX, and Volvo EX30. It is no surprise to see several EVs in the running there, now is it? The same is true for the overall World Car of the Year – where the jury selects a Top Ten Finalists shortlist.

For 2024 WCOTY that list looks like this: BYD Seal (also sold as the Atto 4), Ford Bronco, Hyundai Kona (and Kona Electric), Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia EV9, Mazda CX-90, Subaru Crosstrek, Toyota Prius, Volkswagen ID.7, and Volvo EX30. There are over 100 jurors at the World Car Awards from across several countries. India has 7 jurors, including yours truly. They go through a first round of voting for all eligible contenders (the WCOTY category had 38 cars in the fray this time), and then a second round of voting is conducted in February. The Top Three in each category will be announced at the 2024 Geneva Motor Show on February 26th, and the winners a month later at the New York International Auto Show.

The Volvo EX30 has secured four nominations in the shortlist. Besides the two categories mentioned above, it is also a contender amongst the Top Five for World Car Design of the Year. The other finalists for design are the Ford Bronco, Ferrari Purosangue, Toyota Prius, and Zeekr X. Yes it is the first time that the Chinese brands have also made the cut at the WCOTY categories, with what are mostly electric models.

Interestingly enough, the Top Five Finalists for 2024 World Electric Vehicle though, have none! They are the BMW i5, Kia EV9, Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV, VW ID.7, and you guessed it – the Volvo EX30! The Top Five Finalists for World Performance Car are the BMW M2, BMW XM, Ferrari Purosangue, Hyundai IONIQ 5 N, and the Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid Turbo. And finally the finalists in the running for World Luxury Car once again see a virtual domination by Mercedes-Benz- the mist successful brand in the category historically. The Top Five are: BMW 5 Series (includes the i5), Lexus LM, Mercedes-Benz CLE, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and the Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV.

The Suzuki Fronx is made exclusively in India but also sells in other markets like Mexico, where it is exported by Maruti Suzuki. The car was actually also at World Car's annual test drive programme in Los Angeles in November last year. It was driven up from Mexico for jurors to be able to test it. Suzuki has been shortlisted in the World Urban Car category before with the Ignis and Swift, and also won it in 2019 with the Jimny. Strong contenders do typically find themselves in multiple categories - as is the case this year with cars like the Kia EV9, VW ID.7, and Volvo EX30. For the last two years, we have seen Hyundai dominate proceedings with triple wins for its cars that had secured a finalist berth in the same three categories for two consecutive years. The IONIQ5 and IONIQ6 had each won World Car Design, World EV and World Car of the Year in 2022 and 2023 respectively.