Every year, eminent journalists from around the country and from various publications get together to judge some of the very best vehicles that were launched in India. It’s never easy for the jury to choose from a list of very deserving candidates, and this year was no different. The best ones always triumph, and hence, we have the winners of all the categories at ICOTY and IMOTY.
Let’s start with the Indian Car of the Year, the Maruti Suzuki Victoris, which faced a fierce challenge from the rest of its rivals like the Hyundai Creta Electric, Hyundai Venue, Kia Carens Clavis EV, Kia Syros, Mahindra XEV 9e, Skoda Kylaq, and Tata Harrier EV. While Maruti Suzuki Victoris won the ICOTY title, Skoda Kylaq came in as the first runner-up, and Mahindra XEV 9e came in as the second runner-up.
Moving on to the Premium Car of the Year award and Volkswagen Golf GTI bagged the title, ahead of the Toyota Camry and BMW iX1 LWB, who were the first and second runners-up, respectively. Other candidates in the category included BMW iX1 LWB, BMW X3, Mercedes-Benz G-Class, MG Cyberster, Skoda Kodiaq, Skoda Octavia RS, and Toyota Camry.
The Green Car of the Year award went to Mahindra XEV 9e, with Kia Carens Clavis EV being the first runner-up and BMW iX1 LWB being the second runner-up. Other finalists in the Green Car of the Year award include BMW iX1 LWB, BYD Sealion 7, Hyundai Creta Electric, Kia Carens Clavis EV, MG Cyberster, Mahindra XEV 9e, Tata Harrier EV, and Tesla Model Y.
Last but not least, we also have the winner of the prestigious Indian Motorcycle of the Year award, which the TVS Apache RTX 300 deservedly bagged. It fought well with Honda CB 125 Hornet, KTM 390 Adventure, KTM Enduro R, Royal Enfield Classic 650, Ultraviolette X47 and Yamaha XSR 155. While the TVS Apache RTX 300 was crowned the 2026 IMOTY title, the KTM 390 Adventure and Ultraviolette X47 came in as the first and second runners-up, respectively.
The ICOTY and IMOTY awards are the most prestigious automotive awards in India and have been hosted by JK Tyre ever since the inception of both categories back in 2005 and 2007, respectively. The awards were presented by Dr Raghupati Singhania, together with the esteemed jury members from various publications. This year’s jury included Dhruv Behl and Ishan Raghava from Auto X, Yogendra Pratap and Dipayan Dutta from Auto Today, Aspi Bathena and Gaurav Davare from Car India, Tushar Kamath from Car Dekho Group, Sirish Chandran and Aatish Mishra from Evo India, Kranti Sambhav and Rohit Paradkar from Overdrive, Vikrant Singh and Sagar Bhanushali from Carwale, Arpit Mahendra from TOI Auto, Kushan Mitra from The Print, Abhay Verma from Turbocharged, Bob Rupani from Exploration Drives with Bob Rupani, and our very own Pablo Chaterji and Kartik Ware.
The jury for the IMOTY includes Shivank Bhatt and Kunal Mathur from AutoX, Rahul Ghosh and Abhinav Jakhar from Auto Today, Aspi Bathena and Saeed Akhtar from Bike India, Sirish Chandran and Karan Ramgopal from Evo India, Kranti Sambhav and Rohit Paradkar from Overdrive, Vikrant Singh and Rishabh Bhaskar from Bikewale, Abhay Verma from Turbocharged, Arpit Mahendra from TOI Auto, and Kartik Ware and Manaal Mahatme representing us.
