Skoda Slavia. Photo: Authors’ Union Mobility/Skoda
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The Indian car market is the third largest in the world, with 3.7 million units sold there in 2022. That’s a million more than in Germany – and the trend is growing. The Cars of the Year have now been chosen at the prestigious Acko Drive Awards. Overall winner: The Skoda Slavia.
The compact, ultra-modern four-door was specially developed for India, but technically it is closely related to the VW Polo. The recently presented Slavia is powered by three- or four-cylinder turbo engines, which are available with manual or automatic transmissions. Hybridization is not planned for the time being.
The other winners: Kia Carens in the MPVs, Mercedes-AMG EQS in the performance and premium classes, the Lamborghini Urus Performante in the sports cars, and there were also two classes for electric cars: the BMW i4 won the premium class. Electric cars, the pretty Tata Tiago EV is king of all electric cars in India. Rajesh Jejurikar, head of Mahindra’s automotive division, was awarded the title of “Person of the Year”. The jury is chaired by renowned journalist Siddharth Vinayak Patankar; the panel includes developer V Sumantran and actress Gul Panag, among others.
The industry is increasingly turning its attention to India, especially since the number of registrations has risen sharply again since the Corona crisis. Traditionally, not only petrol but also diesel are well represented in India, while electromobility is still in its infancy. (awm)
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