The shortlist for the UK Car of the Year Awards 2024 has been revealed – and it’s dominated by electric vehicles.

The UK Car of the Year Awards celebrate their 10th anniversary this year

Seven cars from 45 contenders have made it through to win their respective categories, with five of the seven winners powered by batteries. All of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ are from different manufacturers too.

Brands making their debut in the UK COTY line-up include American EV start-up Fisker. Its Ocean SUV took the gong for best Medium Crossover.

Volvo’s all-electric EX30 triumphed over the competition to claim the Small Crossover title – and Kia scooped the final crossover prize with its EV9, which came out top in the Large Crossover class.

The EV accolades also went to two former UK COTY winners. BMW – which won the inaugural title in 2014 and then triumphed again in 2015 – claimed the Executive Car category with the i5. Finally, Hyundai, whose Ioniq 5 was named UK Car of the Year 2022, claimed the Family Car prize for the Ioniq 6.

More familiar ICE vehicles took titles too; the Renault Clio was voted the top Small Car, while the sought-after Performance Car category went to the Honda Civic Type R.

All seven class winners have now qualified for the next stage – the category of UK Car of the Year 2024, which will be revealed on 8 March 2024.

The UK Car of the Year Awards celebrate their 10^th anniversary this year – and now boast the biggest and best-ever judging panel, made up of 30 motoring journalists based all over the UK.

The awards are run in association with Heycar, which has sponsored them since January 2022. Karen Hilton, CEO at Heycar, commented: “Another year with an excellent range of models, from a variety of manufacturers, winning at the UK Car of the Year Awards and getting the recognition they deserve. It’s especially great to see so many electric vehicles take the win! Heycar is very pleased to be sponsoring the UK Car of the Year Awards for another year. Congratulations to all of the category winners!”

Full list of UK Car of the Year Awards 2024 category winners:

Small Car – Renault Clio
Family Car – Hyundai IONIQ 6
Small Crossover – Volvo EX30
Medium Crossover – Fisker Ocean
Large Crossover – Kia EV9
Executive Car – BMW i5
Performance Car – Honda Civic Type R