Hyundai i20 is the 2021 Indian Car Of The Year

The new Hyundai i20 beat the Kia Sonet and the Mahindra Thar to win the prestigious ICOTY 2021 award. In an initiative to encourage car manufacturers to move towards electric mobility, the ICOTY jury has introduced a ‘Green Car Award’ to reward manufacturers contributing towards the future of mobility. Tata Nexon EV won the inaugural edition of the Green Car Award 2021 by ICOTY. The Land Rover Defender bagged the award in the premium cars category. Our Editor, Sirish Chandran and contributing Editor Annirudha Rangnekar were among the jury members for the 16th edition of the ICOTY awards. Let’s take a quick look at each category and the winners. Since its inception in 2006, JK Tyre has continued to support ICOTY as the sponsor and that remained unchanged this year too. The event was audited and validated by Grant Thornton Bharat.

Hyundai i20 won ICOTY with a total of 104 points, and the closest contender was the Kia Sonet with a total of 91 points. Hyundai has always taken things to the next level with every generation of the i20 and it was no different with the fourth gen i20 too. This is in fact the seventh time that a Hyundai has won this coveted award.

The i20 is packed with a lot of premium features and has set a benchmark in the hatchback segment in terms of kit and comfort. The i20 even has a fully digital instrument cluster, sunroof, LED headlights and wireless charging, something that none of its rivals have. Even when it comes to powertrain options, the i20 has the highest peak power and remains the only car to feature a DCT in its class. Read more about the hatchback segment leaders and their comparo here. The other contenders in the category were the Mahindra Thar, Kia Carnival, Tata Altroz, Honda City, Hyundai Creta, Hyundai Aura and the MG Gloster.

The 16th ICOTY Awards also saw the introduction of a new ‘Green Car award’ in which the Hyundai Kona Electric, Tata Nexon EV, MG ZS EV, Mercedes-Benz EQC and Toyota Camry Hybrid were the contenders. The Tata Nexon EV took the top spot in the category as it is the most affordable EV in the market along with a decent range and is rather capable. Just about a month ago, we made a specification comparison featuring the Nexon EV, MG ZS EV and the Hyundai Kona. Read all about it here.

In the Premium Car category, we had the BMW 2 Series, 8 Series, Audi A8 which were joined by SUVs like the gigantic Mercedes-Benz GLE, GLS ,Audi Q8, Land Rover Defender and the smaller Audi Q2. The Defender won the title with a total of 108 points, a massive lead of 31 points over the Mercedes-Benz GLE.

Here’s a detailed look at the various categories, winners and runners-up: