UK Car of the Year Awards 2026 category winners – from Citroen C3 to Skoda Elroq

The UK Car of the Year shortlist is announced, with category winners ranging from the Renault 5 to the Hyundai Ioniq 9. 

The UK Car of the Year category winners are announced ahead of the Car of the Year being announced on 28/2/26, and the winners follow the ‘new normal’ of EV domination (unlike the real world) with five of the eight category winners EVs, and the remaining three offering battery-powered options.

The VW Group offerings fared well with Audi grabbing a couple of wins with the A6 Saloon as Best Executive car and the A6 Avant as Best Estate car, and the Skoda Elroq being declared the best Medium Crossover, a category with more competition than any other, with 19 entries, demonstrating the demand and competition in the SUV/Crossover market.

In the Small Car Category, unsurprisingly, it’s the very good Renault 5 E-Tech taking the award, and doing it by garnering two-thirds of the votes from the 33-strong voting panel.

Kia, overall winner of the UK COTY in 2024 with the EV9 and in 2025 with the EV3, gets a Category win for Best Family Car with the EV4, with sister company Hyundai grabbing Best Large Crossover (a category it won last year for the Santa Fe) with the Ioniq 9.

The final two categories see the Ciroen C3/e-C3 Aircross take the Small Crossover category and the Alpine A290 grab Best Performance Car.

We’ll find out on 28 February which of the eight category winners is voted the UK Car of the Year for 2026, but the judges’ consensus on the Renault 5 suggests it will be the likely winner.