With awards season in the film industry in full swing, the automotive industry followed suit with the annual What Car? Car of the Year Awards — dubbed the ‘Motoring Oscars’ — taking place at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House on London’s Park Lane.

The awards have been held annually since 1978 and are the culmination of 12 months of testing by What Car’s expert team of road testers and journalists.

The big winner on the night was the BMW iX3 50 xDrive M Sport, which took home the Car of the Year award. The iX3 beat fellow nominees like the Alpine A390, BYD Dolphin Surf, Dacia Bigster and Volkswagen T-Roc for the coveted prize.

“A stepchange in capability”

The BMW iX3 impressed as the first electric production car that can cover 500 miles on a single charge and has the ability to add 215 miles of range in just 10 minutes, thanks to its 108.7kWh EV battery charging at up to 400kW. What Car? Editor Steve Huntingford said the car represented a “stepchange in capability” in a hotly contested premium electric SUV market.

The award is BMW’s fourth overall What Car? Car of the Year triumph, after wins for the 5 Series in 2017, 3 Series in 2006 and 7 Series in 1988. It is also the fifth time a fully electric car has won the award, with the iX3 joining fellow EVs the Kia e-Niro in 2019, Kia EV6 in 2022, Volkswagen ID Buzz in 2023 and last year’s winning Renault 5.