Hyundai has taken three What Car? Electric Car Awards 2026 — but there is an important twist. This was not a triple triumph for new electric cars. The new IONIQ 6 N did beat its rivals in the performance EV category, while the Tucson Plug-in Hybrid and the previous-generation Santa Fe were recognized on the used-car market.
The star of the story is the IONIQ 6 N, powered by two electric motors producing up to 650 PS and 770 Nm. The numbers are almost supercar-like: with N Launch Control, it sprints to 100 km/h in 3.2 seconds and reaches 257 km/h. Its 84 kWh battery delivers up to 486 km of WLTP range. In the UK, prices start at £65,800.
Then comes the surprise. The other two awards did not go to new cars at all. The current Tucson 1.6 T-GDi Plug-in Hybrid was named the best used hybrid family SUV. Its 13.8 kWh battery allows around 70 km of electric-only driving — a strong argument for a family crossover on the second-hand market.
The previous-generation Santa Fe, sold in the UK from 2018 to 2024, also picked up an award, winning among used seven-seat hybrid models. The takeaway is simple: the headline figure of “three” can be misleading. Only one Hyundai victory belongs to a brand-new fully electric car, while the other two show how strongly experts rate the brand’s hybrids after several years on the road.
