The World Car of the Year awards are known as the Oscars of the automotive industry and have a pivotal position in the industry, and if any model can win the award, it can be blown all the way to the next generation. The award also has multiple sub-categories, such as City Car of the Year, Electric Vehicle of the Year, Performance Car of the Year, etc. The popularity of each category is very high, and today we will look at the 2022 World Luxury Car Shortlist.
Audi Q5 Sportback
The Audi Q5 Sportback is the third SUV model with the word "Sportback", which is also a complement to the lineup of its own coupe SUV. The height and width of the vehicle are the same as those of the regular version, but this car has a lower drag coefficient, because the rear of the car adopts a slippery back shape. From the perspective of positioning, its opponent should be BMW X4, but because Audi took the lead in domestically launching an extended version, its competitiveness is higher.
Although the rear of the car is more sporty and lively than the regular version, Sportback has always been a more polarized existence, like it very much, and conservatives are very unacceptable to this style. Take our domestic market, for example, consumers are extremely enthusiastic about the pursuit of space, even the Sportback sneakback model, but also to elongate the wheelbase, completely disregarding the original intention of sporty design. So compared to the Q5L regular version, the Sportback version is destined to be niche.
BMW iX
The BMW iX features a design derived from the iNext concept car, giving it a unique personality. The vertically arranged double kidney grille with BMW's slimmest headlights in the world is full of futuristic feeling. In addition, the grille has a black technology, the surface of the application of chemical polyurethane protective film coating, can self-repair minor scratches. The whole vehicle has made efforts in lightweighting, and the inner frame of the door, the tailgate frame and other parts are carbon fiber reinforced composite materials, which are lighter in weight and stronger than steel, taking into account the rigidity and driving stability of the body.
BMW iX is the first model in the entire family to be equipped with a floating curved screen, and the interior uses a large number of environmentally friendly materials, which is completely in line with the development concept of new energy. "Shy Tech" stealth technology is very eye-catching, when operating on the surface of the wooden console, the light point will follow the direction of the finger, this way of operating through different media is quite novel. Unfortunately, even if bmw iX has many black technology blessings, it still belongs to the product of the oil-power sharing platform, which is what we often call the "oil to electricity" model, which is slightly embarrassed in the face of pure electric competitors of "root red seedlings".
Geniseith GV70
As can be seen from the name, the positioning of the GenisesYS GV70 is lower than that of the GV80, which focuses on the high-end mid-size SUV market, and competitors are naturally indispensable to the German BMW X3, Mercedes-Benz GLC and Audi Q5. For young domestic consumers, if they want to buy luxury SUVs, the priority choice is definitely the "BBA" model, which will lack freshness over time. Geniseith GV70 has not been listed in China, if you refer to the already listed coupe G70 to compare the competitors of the same level, the cost-effective advantage is still very prominent.
At present, the biggest feature of Geniseis is to maintain the import status, which is still very attractive for people who pay attention to the quality of craftsmanship. Don't look at the small brand influence in China, but the performance of overseas markets is very eye-catching, and it often suppresses traditional luxury brands in the selection of major awards. With the precipitation of time, the future domestic consumption concept continues to be rational, and I believe that Genissy will shine in China. Of course, the premise is to ensure that the quality of the model is unified around the world, and do not develop the double standard vice of shrinking and reducing the allocation.
Mercedes-Benz EQS
It has to be said that Mercedes-Benz, as the originator of the internal combustion engine car, is a bit out of step with the rhythm in the process of electrification. It may be that you want to wait and see the market changes, and after the new car-making forces have sprung up, they have begun to launch EQA, EQB and EQC, which are "oil to electricity" models. Unexpectedly, this operation also attracted a lot of car fans to complain, the hall of German bigwigs actually shared the platform to produce pure electric vehicles, even the "gorilla" Jeremy Clarkson also has a very poisonous evaluation of this practice.
Mercedes-Benz has now realized the importance of pure electric platforms, and EQS is the first electric vehicle in Mercedes-Benz's history to be designed from scratch, born on the EVA pure electric platform. With its extremely aerodynamic design, the EQS has a drag coefficient of only 0.2Cd, which invisibly improves energy consumption. As the flagship of the Mercedes-Benz pure electric family, the configuration will naturally have breakthrough changes, such as the interactive system called "MBUX Hyperscreen". It's a huge interactive screen that can shock the jaw, so big that people can sit in the car and look at it. I have to admit that Mercedes-Benz has always been very good at creating a sense of luxury, how to say that sentence, "your uncle is still your uncle after all."
Volvo C40 RECHARGE
From the Audi Q5 Sportback above to this Volvo C40 RECHARGE, it can be seen that foreigners seem to have a soft spot for slip-on SUVs. Nowadays, more and more manufacturers are beginning to add this sneakback version to existing SUV models, but most of them are based on the design of the ordinary version, so it does not look very coordinated. In the compact SUV, the Volvo C40 RECHARGE is even a very good value, and the scandinavian style shows a light and luxurious style that attracts many petty bourgeois groups.
The C40 was born on the CMA platform jointly developed by Volvo and Geely, and has a close relationship with the XC40, so it is also classified as an "oil to electricity" model. However, the power form of the two does not overlap, and the appearance shape also has obvious differences. Entering the era of electrification, all volvo passenger cars have a plug-in hybrid version, and it is not enough to make efforts in pure electric models, and the C40 is Volvo's first model that only provides pure electric drive, which is also an important step for the Volvo brand to achieve more than half of the sales of pure electric models in 2025.
summary:
From this list, it can be seen that the finalists are still traditional luxury brands, and rare models such as Rolls, Bentley, porsche and so on are basically out of luck. And the price coverage range of the above models is also very wide, taking the domestic as an example, the starting price of Mercedes-Benz EQS and Volvo C40 is about 800,000 yuan, obviously the evaluation of luxury cars can not be from the price alone, the overall design and technology configuration seems to be the focus. In addition, it is surprising that Japanese and American luxury cars are not on the list, and it seems that there are no highlights in the new cars launched in the past year.