While most journalists were flocking to each individual automotive stand at the 2017 NYIAS (New York International Auto Show), there was a separate stand that housed cars from several different automakers, the one for the 2017 World Car of the Year award winners.
Each year, the WCA (World Car Awards) holds its annual award ceremony to honor the world’s best cars. This year, the ceremony was at the New York Auto Show, which was held before the show opened, to start the day. Of the many award winners, BMW was there to represent the Bavarians with the BMW i3.
The BMW i3 gets a bit of flak for not having enough range to compete with some of its competitors, being priced to high to be an affordable EV and not having some of the amenities that its competitors have. However, the little i3 is apparently good enough to merit World Urban Car of the Year. As, after all, the BMW i3 is designed to be an urban city car and not a long-range electric. So it’s good that it’s being recognized for what it is and not being dogged for what it isn’t.
The World Urban Car Award for the BMW i3 on display by BMW at the New York International Auto Show at the Javits Center in Manhattan, NY April 12, 2017.
(Kevin Hagen for WCOTY)
BMW recently updated the i3, now giving it a 94 Ah battery and 114 miles of range, which is a big improvement over its previous 81 mile range. It also is available with a sunroof in North America now and comes with new paint color and interior options. So it is improved quite a bit over its pre-refresh variant and the improvements have warranted awards.
Some of the other WCA winners are some very good cars, like the Mercedes-Benz E-Class (World Luxury Car of the Year), Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman (World Performance Car of the Year) and the Jaguar F-Pace, which received the prestigious honor of overall World Car of the Year.
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