Electric cars dominate 2023 NZ Car of the Year finalists

Thursday, 16 November 2023

From left; the MG4, Ford Mustang Mach-E, and Nissan X-Trail are amongst the 2023 New Zealand Car of the Year finalists. The X-Trail is one of just two finalists that doesn’t feature a pure electric powertrain.

The Motoring Writers Guild has released its list of ten finalists that will duke it out to win the 2023 New Zealand Car of the Year – the awards programme’s 36th running.

In alphabetical order, the finalists are the BMW i7, Cupra Born, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Lexus RZ 450e, Mercedes-Benz EQE, MG4, Nissan X-Trail, Peugeot 308, and Skoda Enyaq.

This year's New Zealand Car of the Year finalists cover a broad mixture of brands and vehicle types.

The Motoring Writers’ Guild comprises 22 motoring journalists from all over the country, including Stuff’s Matthew Hansen and Nile Bijoux. Voting guild members are set to decide on a winner in the coming months, with the winner to be announced in February 2024.

Only cars launched in New Zealand as all-new models within the 12 months between October 2022 and October 2023 were eligible to qualify as potential finalists for the near four-decade-old award.

Electric vehicles make up the largest percentage of the finalists. Seven models (the Born, Mustang Mach-E, Ioniq 6, RZ 450e, EQE, MG4, and Enyaq) are dedicated fully electric vehicles, whilst the i7 is offered locally solely in pure electric form.

The X-Trail and 308, meanwhile, are both offered in New Zealand with either an internal combustion engine or a hybrid – the X-Trail utilising Nissan’s unique e-Power unit and the Peugeot offering a plug-in hybrid solution.

Motoring Writers’ Guild president Robert Barry said that the number of electric vehicles amongst the finalists that qualify for the Clean Car Discount scheme underlines that manufacturers offering low-emission models are edging closer to achieving price parity with ICE alternatives.

Electric vehicles have experienced something of a victory streak in recent years, claiming the NZ Car of the Year prize the last four years on the trot with the Jaguar I-Pace (2019), Mercedes-Benz EQC (2020), Hyundai Ioniq 5 (2021), and BYD Atto 3 (2022).

Other recent award winners include the BMW i3 (2015), Mercedes-Benz E-Class (2016), Skoda Kodiaq (2017), and Subaru Forester (2018).

Over its 36-year history, Japanese carmakers have claimed the largest number of NZ Car of the Year award wins, with 14. German and American carmakers are next, with 10 and four wins a piece.

Cars from France have won twice, whilst Australia, China, the Czech Republic, South Korea, and the United Kingdom have one gong a piece.