How Does ACOTY Define This Class?

The Overall Best Hybrid Vehicle is chosen from among the winners of the Cat A Hybrid, Cat B Hybrid and Premium Hybrid categories in Round 1.

Meet The Contenders

Kia Niro Hybrid

The Kia Niro Hybrid has sharp, unique looks, an angular, tech-infused cabin and spacious practicality in its favour. How comfy it is and how little fuel it sips means you’ll be wafting around while keeping your wallet firmly in your pocket for longer.

Nissan X-Trail e-Power

The Nissan X-Trail e-Power is refined, stylish, and in this era of historically high COEs, well-equipped enough to offer its owner a premium-feeling experience for a car that relatively speaking is positioned as a mass market model. Plus it has one of the judges’ Mom’s glowing seal of approval.

BMW XM

The BMW XM balances ride comfort and eye-watering performance off the line very well. It’s also nimble in carparks and offers an opulent tech-focused interior for its elite occupants.

So who won?

Three really great award-winners where one will not go wrong with any of them. However, there could only be one.

Where the points tally in Round 1 was the final determinant of each category’s winner, here in Round 2, points are taken into consideration but are not the final arbiter of victory.

AutoApp Car Of The Year Overall Best Hybrid Vehicle
Kia Niro Hybrid

The Kia Niro Hybrid won because, just like it did in Round 1, it offers the best value proposition of the trio. Despite scoring the lowest points of the three in Round 1, by being priced the way it is and yet still remaining practical and frugal, we believe that it represents the better offering to car buyers out there.

More on the scoring categories used to derive points in Round 1 here.

Congratulations to the Kia Niro Hybrid for winning the AutoApp Car of the Year 2024 Overall Best Hybrid Vehicle!

Read more automotive news at AutoApp, or check out our latest videos on Ignition Labs TV!

How Does ACOTY Define This Class?

This is pretty straightforward. Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) that qualify for this category need to be their respective manufacturers’ flagship models and be priced close to the 90th price percentile.

Meet The Contenders

Four luxury SUVs were reviewed this year – three German, and one Italian.

Clockwise from the top left, representing Ingolstadt are the Audi SQ7 and SQ8. Flying the flag for neighbouring Italy is the Maserati Levante GT. And back across the border representing Stuttgart is the Porsche Cayenne.

Starting with the SQ siblings, what differentiates the Audi SQ7 and SQ8 is body style, with the former being a traditional SUV while the latter has a more raked Sportback style, and their respective ability to seat seven and five.

Otherwise, they’re virtually identical underneath. The same 500hp twin-turbo four-litre V8 powers both via Audi’s famed Quattro all-wheel drive system. They both come with adaptive air suspension and are supremely comfortable cruisers. We liked how well-appointed they are and how clean Audi’s design language is, with nothing out of place.

If there’s something the Italians usually execute well, it’s design. And so it is here with the Maserati Levante. Feeling like an Italian business suit, the Levante seats five comfortably and has enough luggage space to cart everyone’s Samsonite suitcases around.

Comfy on a cruise and competent in the bends, there is much to like about this luxury Italian SUV.

When Porsche first introduced the Cayenne, purists went mental. However, time has proven this decision correct. Where the first-generation Cayenne had mechanical off-road gubbins to make it a proper Range Rover rival, the later generations dropped this in favour of sharper streetability.

The Cayenne’s three-chamber air suspension is superbly comfortable while allowing this large SUV to drop smaller sedans in the twisties. It has enough kit on the inside to fulfil the needs of modern-day connectivity. Plus, it’s a Porsche. In the luxury segment, brand cachet is important, and the Cayenne delivers in oodles.

These four luxury SUVs made the work of the judging panel that much more difficult. But there was one clear winner.

AutoApp Car Of The Year Best Luxury SUV
Audi SQ7

The Audi SQ7 won convincingly with 355 points because, although both it and the SQ8 are well-appointed and desirable, it is the more practical of the two while priced more attractively. Despite this being the luxury segment, price and practicality do matter, and the SQ7 represents the better-value buy.

More on the scoring categories used to derive points here.

Congratulations to the Audi SQ7 for winning the AutoApp Car of the Year 2024 Best Luxury SUV!

Read more automotive news at AutoApp, or check out our latest videos on Ignition Labs TV!