The new Ford Puma has taken the top spot in the What Car? Car of the Year Awards, fending competition from models such as both the 3 and 5 Series and the Škoda Scala and Superb.

The Ford Puma took the top COTY prize after triumphing in the Small SUV category

The winner of the Small SUV category, the Puma was praised by judges for being fun to drive, cleverly packaged and well-priced, while its 1.0 Ecoboost mild hybrid powertrain was found to be extremely economical in real-world tests.

This year’s awards also saw three new categories introduced, reflecting the evolution in the car market and covering Coupe SUV, Small Electric Car and Large Electric Car, picked up respectively by the Range Rover Velar, Renault Zoe and Tesla Model 3.

Elsewhere in the awards, the Toyota Corolla took the Best Hybrid award while the BMW 3 Series won the Best Plug-in Hybrid accolade and was also the winner of the Best Executive Car and the Safety Award. It was nominated for the latter by Thatcham Research, based on its high scores in Euro NCAP impact testing and its Autonomous Emergency Braking system, which can detect other vehicles along with pedestrians and cyclists.

Meanwhile, Subaru’s ‘DriverFocus’ Driver Monitoring System took the Technology Award, again nominated by Thatcham; the system is regarded by Thatcham as a key enabler for the safe introduction of automated driving technology.

The new Land Rover Defender also scored a place in the 2020 What Car? accolades, taking the Reader Award title.

What Car? Car Of The Year Awards 2020 Winners List

Car of the Year 2020
Ford Puma

Best Performance Car
Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio

Best Sports Car
Alpine A110 Pure

Best Luxury SUV
Audi Q7

Best Coupe
Audi TT

Best Plug-In Hybrid – sponsored by Ubitricity
BMW 3 Series

Best Executive Car
BMW 3 Series

Best Luxury Car
BMW 5 Series

Best MPV
Citroën Berlingo

Best Small SUV – sponsored by CAP HPI
Ford Puma

Best Hot Hatch
Honda Civic Type R GT

Best Value Car – sponsored by MotorEasy
Kia Picanto

Best Family SUV
Range Rover Evoque

Best Coupe SUV
Range Rover Velar

Best Convertible
Mercedes Benz S-Class

Best Large SUV – sponsored by Quotezone
Peugeot 5008

Best Sports SUV
Porsche Macan S

Best Small Electric Car – sponsored by Instavolt
Renault Zoe

Best Family Car
Skoda Scala

Best Estate Car
Skoda Superb

Best Large Electric Car – sponsored by myenergi
Tesla Model 3

Best Hybrid – sponsored by CitNow
Toyota Corolla

Best Small Car
Volkswagen Polo

Best Pick-Up Truck
Volkswagen Amarok

Safety Award – sponsored by Thatcham Research
BMW 3 Series

Reader Award – sponsored by ALA Insurance
Land Rover Defender

Reliability Award – sponsored by MotorEasy
Lexus

Technology Award – sponsored by Thatcham Research
Subaru