Things are definitely changing in the automotive world and the finest example comes from Germany, where the 2021 Car of the Year Award went to a surprising model. The quirky Honda e electric urban car managed not only to claim the title for an EV but also beat all its German rivals to the punch. This marks a huge premiere in the history of the award and says a lot about the Japanese car. That’s not the only interesting thing about this year’s awards though.
If you take a look at the winners, you’ll notice that electric cars are taking over. Three of the five categories, including the main title, were won by electric cars. Not hybrids, not even plug-in hybrids but full-on EVs. The only non-EV models that managed to win something were the Volkswagen Golf (which, by the way, has electrified models in its range) and the Alpina B3. The Alpina won the Performance segment and holds the Bavarian flag high, being the only car here relying solely on dead dinosaurs to get around.
The other three candidates that actually won their categories were the Volkswagen ID.3 in the premium category (prices under 50,000 Euro), the Polestar 2 EV from Sweden in the Luxury category (over 50,000 Euro) and Honda e once again for the New Energy category. It’s becoming pretty clear that electric cars are coming to take over but there are still some stubborn cars on the market keeping the flag up for internal combustion.
The Alpina B3 is a prime example and it’s easy to see why it won. It has a majestic straight six engine under the hood, plenty of power and straight line acceleration and it offers luxury like none of the other cars in this short list. We’ll be watching this space closely next year, once the BMW iX goes on sale.
