New brand, new chance: Genesis has been on the Swiss market since 2021 only as a noble subsidiary of Hyundai. And it has already earned the prestigious title of “Swiss Car of the Year 2023” with the new, all-electric GV60. Of course, General Manager Piergiorgio Cecco is delighted with this award: “It’s great that our young brand is already ahead of the game.”
The GV60 scored the highest points from a twelve-person expert jury made up of jury president Monisha Kaltenborn (51), racing professional Marc Surer (71), and experts from TCS, VCS, Empa and EKZ, as well as automotive journalists. No wonder, really: the all-electric SUV carries the technical genes of last year’s winner Hyundai Ioniq 5 with its successful 800-volt onboard system. However, it is packaged in a self-contained, elegantly styled body.
Unlike last year, when only all-electric vehicles were represented in the final, this year the expert jury again has to consider four combustion vehicles: Alfa Tonale, Dacia Jogger, Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS and Toyota GR86. But in the end, only all-electric cars managed to rise to the podium again. After the Genesis GV60 in 2nd place, the expert jury chose Munich’s new entry-level electric model, the BMW iX1, followed by the 3rd-place Audi Q4 Sportback E-Tron.
Skoda pleases everyone
In the second election, in the popular vote for “Switzerland’s favorite car”, Skoda looks set to win. About 30,000 readers of “Schweizer Illustrierte”, Blick and SonntagsBlick as well as “L’illustré” and “La Domenica” voted this year, with 6.8 percent winning the Skoda Enyaq Coupé RS iV a year after Enyaq . The sporty coupé version was also appreciated by the Swiss public.
Skoda brand boss Markus Kohler (57) quite routinely on stage receives the winner’s award from moderator Jan Billeter (50). Still, Kohler is of course happy with the award: “What could be better than being on top in the eyes of the audience? It shows that Skoda hasn’t done much wrong.”
As in the jury voting, the Audi Q4 Sportback E-Tron took the second place with 5.9 percent of the public votes. And right behind it is the new, all-electric VW ID with 5.8 percent. 3rd Rank Buzz.
Like the expert jury, readers were able to choose from 50 new models for the public vote, and like the expert jury, they chose three all-electric models for the top three rows. This shows that electric mobility has definitely reached Switzerland.