Porsche Taycan named as 2020 World Luxury Car, World Performance Car

The Porsche Taycan won both the World Luxury Car and World Performance Car titles for 2020 as the fully electric four-door sports car clinched the vote of 86 prominent automotive journalists coming from 24 countries. The judges assessed more than 50 new models which were included in this year’s edition of the World Car of the Year (WCOTY) awards.

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Proving its capacity to seamlessly blend exclusive traits, the Taycan bested two other finalists in the World Luxury Car category, namely the Porsche 911 and the Mercedes-Benz EQC, while also prevailing over two other Porsche finalists—the 911 and the 718 Spyder and 718 Cayman GT4 (which were counted as a single entry)—to snatch World Performance Car honors. The Taycan was also among the three finalists that vied for the World Car Design of the Year crown.

“The Porsche Taycan was designed with a clear purpose: To show that an electric car could provide the performance, driving pleasure and everyday comfort and usability that characterizes every Porsche. We are proud and honored that the international jury of World Car Awards believes we have succeeded,” said Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Executive Board at Porsche AG. 

While the World Luxury Car award marked a first for Porsche, the World Performance Car title was the sixth win for the legendary sports car brand as it previously topped the class in 2006, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2017.

Candidates eligible for World Performance Car must be produced in volumes of at least 2,000 units per year. The models must be overtly performance-focused and must be available for sale on at least two continents during the period beginning January 1, 2019 and ending May 31, 2020.

“This double win in the categories World Luxury Car and World Performance Car underlines what we wanted to achieve when we developed the Taycan. We wanted to create a driver-focused, fully electric sports car that can take on any performance car,” said Michael Steiner, a member of the Executive Board, Research and Development at Porsche AG, when he received the awards. 

The latest WCOTY awards continue a winning streak for both the Taycan and the new 911 which, between them, have already clinched around 40 international prizes, majority of which from Germany, USA, UK and China. For the Taycan, these include Car of the Year: Top Gear UK, China Green Car of the Year and German Car of the Year. For its part, the 911 was named China Performance Car of the Year and has received numerous readers’ choice awards from leading international automotive publications.

“We are so happy to have been awarded these prizes. They reflect the positive feedback from our customers and are a great incentive for our future work. We see ourselves as pioneers of sustainable mobility and have brought an emotive as well as highly innovative sports car to the road with the Taycan—fully electric and 100-percent Porsche,” Blume said.

This year’s World Car Awards is the 16th edition and remains as the top automotive recognition program in the world for the seventh consecutive year, based on Prime Research’s 2019 media report. The awards were officially launched in January 2004 to reflect the reality of the global marketplace, as well as to recognize, reward and inspire excellence, leadership and innovation in a rapidly changing automotive industry.