The Road to World Car 2022 concluded at the New York Auto Show the declaration of the Mercedes-Benz EQS as the 2022 World Luxury Car and the Audi e-tron GT as the 2022 World Performance Car.
This is the fifth World Luxury Car win for Mercedes-Benz and the second consecutive year for such a win. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class won the honours last year while the Mercedes-Benz E-Class won the award in 2017. In 2015, it was the Mercedes-Benz S-Coupe and in 2014 it was the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
“We are very honored and proud to receive this award. It has been an intense journey to build up the Electric Vehicle Architecture of which the EQS is the first product. Receiving this award is a strong symbol for the whole team and strengthens our goal to build the world’s most desirable electric cars”, said Christoph Starzynski, Vice President Electric Vehicle Architecture & Development Electric Drive.
The Mercedes-Benz EQS was chosen from an initial entry list of eight vehicles from all over the world then a short list of three finalists as announced on March 15th. The 2022 Top Three in the World finalists are the BMW iX, the Genesis GV70 and the Mercedes-Benz EQS.
Vehicles eligible for World Luxury Car must be produced in volumes of at least 5,000 units/year, must be priced at the luxury-car level in their primary markets, and must be “on-sale” in at least two major markets (China, Europe, India, Japan, Korea, Latin America, USA) on at least two separate continents at some time within the period January 1, 2021 and March 30, 2022.
Luxury Car placement is determined based solely on its range of prices over all available models. Specifically, the price range of the subject vehicle is compared to that of established luxury-class vehicles in the major markets where the car is sold and if its median price falls within or above that range, the vehicle is classified as a Luxury vehicle.
The Audi e-tron GT was chosen from an initial entry list of twelve cars from all over the world then a short list three finalists as announced on March 15th. The 2022 Top Three in the World finalists are the Audi e-tron GT, the BMW M3/M4 and the joint entry Toyota GR86 / Subaru BRZ.
Vehicles eligible for World Performance Car must be produced in volumes of at least 2,000 units/year, must be overtly performance-focused in overall character, and must be “on-sale” in at least two major markets (China, Europe, India, Japan, Korea, Latin America, USA) on at least two separate continents at some time within the period January 1, 2021 and March 30, 2022.
“Our big goal with the Audi e-tron GT was to reimagine the Gran Turismo philosophy for the electric age,” says Christiane Zorn, Head of Product Marketing at AUDI AG. “The e-tron GT combines sporty, powerful driving with a high level of everyday usability – it is a real Gran Turismo and a true Audi. Thank you very much to the World Car judges for recognizing the Audi e-tron GT with the 2022 World Performance Car award”.
