Kia EV9 wins 2023 Golden Steering Wheel Award for ‘Family Cars’

Golden Steering Wheel success for the electric seven-seat Kia EV9 SUV follows its German Luxury Car of the Year 2024 win in September.

It won the Golden Steering Wheel award in the ‘Family Cars’ category.

“This latest recognition bears further testament to Kia’s determination to continue to lead the charge towards electrification,” says Kia global design head and executive vice president Karim Habib.

The awards combine a public vote with expert review and are widely recognised as the most important prize in the German automotive industry.

About 57 new cars were nominated by the two editorial teams this year, before readers selected the 21 finalists.

A 19-member jury (including Ralf Schumacher) put finalists through extensive testing at the DEKRA Lausitzring race circuit. DEKRA analysed the finalists’ driver assistance systems while the editorial team at Computer Bild evaluated the finalists’ competence in connectivity.

“The Kia EV9 convinced the jury as a versatile and spacious family car with ultra-modern 800V technology, innovative features as well as excellent driver assistance systems,” says AUTO BILD head and BILD Group’s automotive division editor-in-chief Robin Hornig.

Kia now has four award winners – the compact crossover XCeed won in 2019, the SUV Sorento in 2020, the electric crossover Niro EV got the ‘Compact SUVs’ category in 2022, and now the EV9 is the second Kia EV in a row to win a Golden Steering Wheel.

With its 2021 realignment, Kia has accelerated the transition to EVs.

In Germany alone, 41.3% of new Kia cars in 2022 featured a plug, while across the German market overall this share accounted for 31.4%.

Like the Kia EV6, the Kia EV9 is based on the E-GMP platform, offering a spacious interior with lounge-like comfort while the luggage compartment has 2393 litres available and it can tow 2.26 tonnes.

The EV9 has up to 505km (WLTP) range – depending on the model – and the 99.8-kWh battery can be charged from 10% to 80% in 24 minutes while 249km range can be delivered in 15 minutes of charging.

It has bi-directional charging and is the first Kia model to offer updates and upgrades via the new Kia Connect Store.

EVs and Beyond has featured the Kia EV9 in several stories, including one in August suggesting deliveries were expected to begin October.

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