New York - Jaguar’s I-Pace electric crossover is now officially a world-beater, having won the 2019 World Car of the Year title.
This comes hot on the heels of it having won the European Car of the Year prize in March this year, and it is Jaguar’s second world COTY win in three years, with the F-Pace SUV having taken top honours back in 2017.
The I-Pace rose to the top from an initial entry list of 40 vehicles, which were eventually whittled down to just three top finalists - the other two being the Audi e-tron and the Volvo S60/V60 range.
The finalists were scored by a jury of 86 motoring journalists from around the globe, including South Africa’s Hannes Oosthuizen and Charleen Clarke.
Designed from the outset as an electric vehicle, the aero-efficient I-Pace is powered by a pair of electric motors that deliver combined outputs of 294kW and 696Nm, while the 90kWh battery is said to offer a range of up to 470km between charges. The all-wheel-drive crossover was recently launched in South Africa, with prices starting at R1 687 200.
Category awards
The World Car Awards organisers also handed out five category awards, of which the overall winner clinched two:
2019 World Urban Car:
Suzuki Jimny
2019 World Luxury Car:
Audi A7
2019 World Performance Car:
McLaren 720S
2019 World Green Car:
Jaguar I-Pace
2019 World Car Design of the Year:
Jaguar I-Pace