Category winners of the 2026 Women’s Worldwide Car Of The Year (WWCOTY) have been announced for the year. The overall winner of the WWCOTY 2026 title will be announced amongst the category winners on March 5, ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2026.
- The India-bound Mercedes-Benz CLA won the Best Large Car Award.
- The Lamborghini Temerario was awarded the Best Performance Car title.
- Renault won the Best Tech Award, while Ford bagged the Sandy Myhre Award.
Autocar India’s Renuka Kirpalani (Consulting Editor, Videos) and Mugdha Mishra (Editor, Auto Media Strategy) were a part of the 84 women jurors who selected the category winners.
2026 Women’s Worldwide Car Of The Year category winners
The overall WWCOTY 2026 winner will be announced on March 5, 2026
The 15th edition of WWCOTY had six categories for passenger cars, including Compact Car, Compact SUV, Large Car, Large SUV, Performance Car and 4×4, the winners of which are as follows:
Talking about the category winners, Renuka Kirpalani, Consulting Editor (videos) at Autocar India, said, “This year the winners are all consistent with the ones I voted for, except for the 4×4 category. With the spread of regions and launches that do not happen often, I’m pleased because they are all worthy winners.”
In addition to this, Renault bagged the Best Tech Award for the year for developing electric platforms such as AmpR Small and AmpR Medium, while also democratising Formula 1 technology. Ford won the Sandy Myhre Award for sustained focus on gender equality within its corporate structure.
2026 Women’s Worldwide Car Of The Year judgment criteria
New models launched in CY2025 in at least two continents or 40 countries were eligible
For the 15th edition of the WWCOTY awards, the category winners were chosen from a total of 55 candidate cars. To be eligible for nomination, the cars had to be new models launched in at least two continents or 40 countries between January 2025 and December 2025.
2026 Women’s Worldwide Car Of The Year jury
84 women motoring journalists from 54 countries chose the winners
As the name suggests, the 2026 Women’s Worldwide Car Of The Year jury consists of 84 women motoring journalists from 54 countries. As mentioned earlier, our own Renuka Kirpalani and Mugdha Mishra are a part of the 2026 WWCOTY jury.
“As jurors, we focused on practicality, comfort, safety and how technology has been used to enhance the driving experience,” says Mugdha Mishra, Editor of Auto Media Strategy at Autocar India. “The winning cars have brought to the fore innovation, whether through electrification, intelligent design or engineering,” she added.
