The Renault 4 looks irresistible thanks to its bargain pricing

Are you planning to buy or lease a new vehicle in the UK over the coming weeks or months? Then you’d be bonkers not to refer back to the full and frank results of the Auto Express New Car Awards 2025. Or, if you can hold out a little longer before ordering your next motor, the 2026 New Car Awards, due to be published in the mag and on autoexpress.co.uk eight months from now.

Separate from and deliberately different to this leading, British awards programme (where expert road testers and editors do the judging) is a more international initiative – the New Car World Championships (comprising a mixed bunch of judges, jurors and executioners currently or previously working as design chiefs, industry titans, F1 drivers, TV and radio show presenters, journalists or those in other global automotive jobs). These car-obsessed folk hail from Tokyo, London, Durban, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Sydney, Seoul... and several other places in between. And they’re assisted by members of the public who get to have a say in the vote.

This week, hours before the opening of the daftly-named Japan Mobility Show and its even dafter official slogan of ‘Let’s Go Mobishow’, were the announcements for the overall and category winners of the New Car World Championships 2025/2026. Toyota was named as the outstanding estate-car manufacturer, thanks to a wagon sold as the Crown in Asia, Signia in the US but, sadly, not available in the UK. Honda was coupé king, thanks to its all-new Prelude, and the 4x4 champ was the Denza B5 – the first premium 4x4 from China. South Korea’s Hyundai Santa Fe was seven-seat SUV supremo.

From here onwards, European cars dominated the rankings. Volkswagen won a gong for having the world’s most appealing range of vans which, don’t forget, includes derivatives that are often more pleasurable to drive than some cars. But at this point it’s worth noting that the latest new models from Germany, Sweden and Britain were – and remain – conspicuous by their absence because, between them, they had no class wins.

Now the important bit. On the podium with the bronze medal was the astonishing value Dacia Bigster, costing around half as much as a Santa Fe. Silver went to a small car that looks great, drives well and is well priced, even if it’s not so small up close. Congratulations to the Fiat Grande Panda, which was also Auto Express’s 2025 Supermini of the Year.

Top of the podium was – still is and will be for the next 12 months – France’s brilliantly stylish, all-electric Renault 4 (Auto Express 2025 Small SUV of the Year) that is now an even more irresistible small SUV than ever, thanks to the Government's Electric Car Grant. It wins its EV class but, more importantly, is crowned the overall New Car World Champion for 2025/2026. And deservedly so, in my opinion.

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