Hyundai Motor Group has gotten off to another year of accolades, as the Korean auto conglomerate’s vehicles have already won best model honors at various auto awards across the globe.

According to the automaker on Tuesday, seven Hyundai Motor and Kia vehicles took home top ratings at the What Car Awards in the United Kingdom last month.

This year’s 48th edition of the What Car Awards, an annual awards event announced by the UK’s biggest car buying guide, What Car?, selected the all-new Santa Fe as the seven-seater of the year, the Ioniq 5N as the best electric hot hatch and the Casper Electric, which is sold as the Inster in overseas markets, as the best small electric car for the city. The Ioniq 5N was additionally recognized for its N e-shift feature, receiving the top technology award.

The What Car Awards gave the best small electric sport utility vehicle title to the Kia EV3, the Korean brand’s latest EV to hit the roads in the UK, with the first customer deliveries having begun in the fourth quarter of last year. The Kia Sportage won for best family SUV at the UK auto awards for a third year in a row. The Kia EV4, which has yet to make its official debut anywhere, won the readers’ choice award as the most highly anticipated new car of 2025, making it the upcoming EV’s first award from any publication worldwide.

“More than 40 percent of respondents picked the EV4, meaning it attracted around twice as many votes as the next most popular model," said What Car’s panel of judges.

In the United States, nine Hyundai vehicles, seven Kia vehicles and seven Genesis cars won the top honors doled out at the 2025 Editors’ Choice Awards presented by American automotive magazine Car and Driver. The 23 awards included recognition for electric compact SUV for the Hyundai Ioniq 5, minivan for the Kia Carnival and compact luxury electric SUV for the Genesis Electrified GV70.

Seven Korean vehicles were also picked in US News & World Report’s 2025 Best Cars for the Money awards, including Hyundai's Kona Electric and Tuscon plug-in hybrid models as well as the Kia Sportage hybrid and Soul models. In particular, the Hyundai Avante hybrid, which is sold as the Elantra in the US, claimed the award for best hybrid passenger vehicle for the fourth consecutive year.

“The Best Cars for the Money awards spotlight vehicles that blend a good ownership experience with good value, both at the time of purchase and down the road,” said John Vincent, senior editor of vehicle testing at US News.

“To determine the winners, we look at factors that contribute to quality, such as fuel efficiency, comfort and practicality, and performance, but also heavily weigh the purchase price and total cost of ownership.”

By Kan Hyeong-woo (hwkan@heraldcorp.com)