The Hyundai IONIQ 5 is VOTY 2022’s winner for Electric Car Of The Year.
The moment the Malaysian government decided that battery electric vehicles would be heavily incentivised, the industry mobilised to take advantage of this new pricing opportunity. Yes, Nissan was ahead of the game with the LEAF, but Hyundai was lucky enough to have a product ready for launch just as the policy rolled out. The Kona Electric ended up getting a decent response, but it clearly was just an appetiser. The main course would arrive some months later with the Hyundai IONIQ 5.
Unlike the Hyundai Kona Electric, the IONIQ 5 was a dedicated battery electric vehicle. This meant that Hyundai was allowed to rethink the car from bumper to bumper. Everything that didn’t need to be there was removed. As a result, Malaysians got to experience what the future of motoring might look like, should the electric mobility revolution go full swing.
The IONIQ 5 didn’t rely on cheap tricks to turn heads. It had a solid, eye-catching design that harked back to Hyundai’s humble beginnings. It merged hatchback proportions with SUV practicality to keep buyers and enthusiasts interested. And the best part is that they didn’t skimp when it came to the electric car stuff either. The Hyundai IONIQ 5 is a genuinely good electric car with the fastest DC Fast Charging capabilities on the market and a decent amount of range too. They could have charged a lot more for this product, but they kept pricing relatively reasonable.
Check out our review here or head to the website for more.
About DSF.my-Allianz Vehicle Of The Year Awards (VOTY)
VOTY is sponsored by Allianz Malaysia Berhad and is judged by Daniel Sherman Fernandez, Ross Hadi, Amirul Mukminin and Subhash Nair from Drive Safe and Fast (dsf.my) and GohedGostan.com.
Our selection process is simple and clean. All cars launched in Malaysia within 13 months of our cutoff date are eligible for entry. We contact all car brands officially operating in Malaysia and ask for our judges to test out eligible cars. There is no participation fee, no tables/seats to buy, no package deals. No car company may buy their award and that makes unique in Malaysia. It is held annually and the way we determine the winners is by having each of the experienced judges vote on their favourite car in each category.
The categories are kept as consistent as possible from year to year, but we’ve made some revisions to fit the market. Some years there just aren’t any hot hatches launched but tonnes of new hybrids or electric cars. Our title sponsor Allianz recognises the integrity of our team and leaves the decisions to us with regards to categories and winners.
