Maruti Suzuki Victoris wins 2026 Indian Car of The Year award

The most coveted vehicle awards in the country, the Indian Car Of The Year (ICOTY) awards were recently announced in Delhi, and it was the Maruti Suzuki Victoris that grabbed the ICOTY award for 2026. Meanwhile, the Indian Motorcycle Of The Year (IMOTY) award was won by the TVS Apache RTX. Kicked off in 2005, the ICOTY and IMOTY jury consists of India's finest automotive journalists, including evo India’s editorial director Sirish Chandran, executive editor Aatish Mishra and assistant editor (bikes), Karan Ramgopal. These awards have been backed by JK Tyre ever since their inception, and Deloitte was the knowledge partner for both the ICOTY and IMOTY awards.

The ICOTY award is granted to cars in three categories: Car of the Year, Premium Car of the Year, and Green Car of the Year, honouring the best vehicles introduced during the course of the year. The Maruti Suzuki Victoris won the overall Car of the Year award, finishing ahead of the Skoda Kylaq and the Mahindra XEV 9e which finished in second and third, respectively.

The Premium Car Of The Year award by ICOTY was won by the Volkswagen Golf GTI, with the Toyota Camry finishing second and the podium for this award was rounded up by the BMW iX1 LWB.

When it comes to electric vehicles, it was the Mahindra XEV 9e which won the Green Car Of The Year by ICOTY, followed in second place by the Kia Carens Clavis EV. The BMW iX1 LWB finished in third for this particular award.

Moving the action towards two wheels, the IMOTY award was won by the TVS Apache RTX, which finished ahead of motorcycles like the KTM 390 Adventure and the Ultraviolette X47, which finished in second and third, respectively. The other finalists for the IMOTY award included motorcycles such as the Honda CB125 Hornet, the Royal Enfield Classic 650, the Yamaha XSR 155 and the KTM Enduro R.

In addition to the members from evo India, the jury consisted of Pablo Chaterji, Kartik Ware and Manaal Mahatme from Motoring World, Vikrant Singh and Sagar Bhanushali from Carwale, Aspi Bhatena and Gaurav Davare from Car India, Yogendra Pratap, Rahul Ghosh, Dipayan Dutta, Abhinav Jakhar from Auto Today, Kranti Sambhav and Rohit Paradkar from Overdrive, Dhruv Behl, Ishan Raghava, Shivank Bhatt and Karan Mathur from AutoX, Arpit Mahendra from Times of India Auto, Kushan Mitra from The Print, Abhay Verma from Turbocharged, Bob Rupani from Exploration Drives with Bob Rupani, Tushar Kamath from Cardekho Group, Rishabh Bhaskar from Bikewale and Saeed Akhtar from Bike India.

Commenting on the awards, Dr. Raghupati Singhania, Chairman & Managing Director, JK Tyre & Industries Limited, said, “The evolution of India’s automotive industry is gaining remarkable transition, as the focus shifts toward sustainable technologies, intelligent mobility and stronger engineering capabilities. ICOTY and IMOTY recognise the machines that carry this vision into reality. JK Tyre is honoured to stand with a platform that rewards forward-looking innovation. What we have seen this year signals an industry preparing thoughtfully and confidently for the mobility of tomorrow.”