Skoda Elroq Wins 2026 German Car of the Year

The all-electric compact SUV, Skoda Elroq has been declared winner of the 2026 Germany Car of the Year. The Elroq had previously won its class (compact car up to 40,000 euros price) and has beaten out the other class winners to win the coveted award. The award was received by Škoda’s global CEO Klaus Zellmer at the Laurin & Klement Kampus in Mladá Boleslav. 

Zellmer said, "I am proud of this overall win. The German Car of the Year award truly honours our work. I am grateful to the jury, who I think have really hit a nerve with this decision. In October, the Elroq was the best-selling EV in Germany. Our customers are voting every day, and for them the Elroq is very much their personal Car of the Year.” 

The Elroq is one of the electrics earmarked for India and is excepted to debut in our market in early 2026. It has multiple variants on offer in different markets, including a more powerful and sportier RS model. Interestingly, the Škoda Elroq is the third overall winner based on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB modular-electric platform, with VW’s ID.Buzz and ID.7 having won in 2023 and 2024 respectively. 

The very first GCOTY was the Jaguar I-Pace in 2019 – the awards’ inaugural year. The Porsche Taycan won in 2020, the Honda e in 2021, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 in 2022, and the BMW 5-series/i5 in 2025. All the winners have been EVs – barring last year, since the ICE and EV 5 Series were declared winner. 

The GCOTY jury consists of over 25 automotive journalists active in German-speaking markets, and an additional 15 international jurors, including this writer. This year saw 89 cars compete, and so the battle to win was intense. The 5 segment winners also had tough competition, and eventually it was the Elroq that prevailed.