Kia’s EV9 wins Danish Car of the Year's Innovation Award

Kia’s pure-electric large SUV EV9 won the 2024 Danish Car of the Year's Innovation Award from Danske Motorjournalist, Denmark’s Automobile Journalists Association. EV9 has been receiving multiple recognitions in the advanced environment-friendly vehicle markets, including Europe, since its launch this year.

According to Kia on Sunday, the EV9 has been awarded multiple times, including the Danish Car of the Year's Innovation Award, in Europe and North America. It won the Reader Award in the U.K.'s 2023 Car of the Year Awards in January before its launch and was named the German Luxury Car of the Year for 2024 in September.

The electric vehicle began to be sold in Europe in October and is taking early bookings in the U.S. In November, it won multiple awards hosted by major automobile media in different regions.

The EV9 earned Best Premium SUV and Best SUV Interior Awards from the 2023 Newsweek Autos Awards. In Europe, it was awarded the 2023 Golden Steering Wheel Award by Germany's Auto Bild, the Moveo Car of the Year Award 2023 by Spain's La Vanguardia, and the 2023 TopGear.com Award by the U.K.'s Top Gear.

The South Korean car is currently nominated for the World Car of the Year, North American Car of the Year, and European Car of the Year, which are the three major car awards in the world. In particular, the model is nominated in three sections of the World Car of the Year – World Car of the Year, World Electric Vehicle, and World Car Design of the Year.

The EV9 is a large 3-row SUV based on E-GMP, Hyundai Motor Group’s electric vehicle-dedicated platform. The model has a battery with a large capacity of 99.7 kWh. A subscription service where drivers can install paid applications for certain car features was applied for the first time by Hyundai Motor Group when it was launched in the South Korean market.

While all production is currently conducted in South Korea, the units to be sold in the U.S. market will be directly manufactured in Hyundai Motor Group’s dedicated electric vehicle plant in Georgia, which will begin operation next year.


Jae-Hyeng Kim monami@donga.com