Chery Tiggo 8 wins Carwow Car of the Year 2026 thanks to its outstanding value

Carwow, the sister site of Auto Express, has crowned the new Chery Tiggo 8 as its Car of the Year for 2026 after impressing the expert judges with “its versatility, technology and outstanding value”.

The seven-seater family SUV also won Carwow’s Hybrid Hero award, with the plug-in Tiggo 8 CSH (Chery Super Hybrid) offering up to 56 miles of pure-electric range and costing just £33,545. That’s about £5,500 less than the most basic, pure-petrol version of its key rival, the Skoda Kodiaq, plus it’s available to lease from just £235 per month through Auto Express’s Buy A Car service. 

Mat Watson, Carwow’s chief content officer, said: “The Tiggo 8 is one of those cars that seems almost too good to be true; it’s a premium-feeling SUV with loads of space for seven occupants, a cutting-edge hybrid system, all the luxury kit you could want… yet it costs about the same as a European hatchback. 

“If a Chinese car was ever going to conquer the market, it should be this one. It’s unbeatable value and feels like so much more than a budget family bus.”

On top of all that, Chery’s more premium and rugged sister marque Jaecoo was named Carwow’s Brand of the Year. It was only launched in the UK earlier this year, and yet it’s “taken the market by storm,” said Watson, and “already nipping at the heels of the best-sellers”.

There were 14 categories in this year’s Carwow awards, with Outstanding EV going to the new Mercedes CLA, thanks to its huge nearly 500-mile range and lightning-fast charging abilities. The even more starship-like Hyundai Ioniq 9 won the Comfortable Cruiser crown, and the Smart Spender award went to the Skoda Enyaq. 

The incredibly comfortable, practical and well priced new Citroen C5 Aircross took home the Family Values title, meanwhile the recently refreshed Volvo XC90 won the Adventurer’s Choice award. 

For those that don’t need such a big car, the Renault 5 won the Urban Living crown, and for those that aren’t looking for a new car at all, the latest Renault Master was named Carwow’s Van of the Year for 2026. 

At the other end of the motoring spectrum, the extraordinary, 1,577bhp, £5.2million Bugatti Mistral won the Desirability award, and the new Porsche 911 Turbo S beat out the best sports cars and supercars around to win the Pleasure of Driving title. 

Looking ahead to 2026, the next-generation BMW iX3 won the title of Tech Trailblazer and the extravagant Jaguar Type 00 concept was named 2026’s Most Talked About Car after capturing the imagination of Carwow’s audience. 

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