Kia EV9, Mercedes EQE SUV and BMW 5 Series get ANCAP 5-Star rating

Nine new cars were awarded five-star safety ratings with Euro NCAP today, with relevant scores transferring to the local ANCAP system.

Winners in the latest round of tests included the Volkswagen ID.7, the BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-EQ EQE SUV, BYD TANG, Kia EV9, XPENG G9, VinFast VF8, smart #3 and BYD SEAL-U.

Of those, the BMW, Mercedes and Kia are already on sale in Australia and have today had their scores recognised by ANCAP – local partner to Euro NCAP. The BYD Seal U is expected to arrive next year, while the others – including the VW ID.7 – are not expected to be offered here.

These days, five-star ratings are barely news, given most brands plan for it and will generally make the grade. Less impressive scores do happen, however, and never without some controversy.

In this case, the Hyundai Kona's four-star result was described by Euro NCAP as being "lucky to avoid three stars".

"This result is due to its substandard test performance, especially in driver assistance and crash avoidance," it said.

The organisation's statement pulls no punches, continuing: "Hyundai has made the car larger and its interior bigger to compete within its class, but the company should not assume that its customers are content with a level of safety which lags behind its competitors."

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In contrast, the statement was almost apologetic for the ZR-V's result, for some reason praising it as "the only car in this release that offers a pure Hybrid powertrain" and noting that its hefty 1.6-tonne weight makes it the lightest vehicle in the group.

"Its performance in both crash and active safety tests was just below the five-star performance thresholds, resulting in a four-star rating for the ZR-V," it adds.

Locally, ANCAP added the below comments as an 'editor's note' on today's release announcing the five-star winners:

"Despite both models being on sale locally for some time, to date, both Hyundai and Honda have been unable to provide the necessary technical evidence to confirm the safety specification and performance of Australian and New Zealand supplied vehicles in time for this release.

"ANCAP will look to publish locally-applicable ratings for the Hyundai Kona and Honda ZR-V vehicles specified for and supplied in Australia and New Zealand once clarification on vehicle specification and appropriate technical evidence has been received and assessed."

The previous Kona was a five-star car, under older ANCAP test requirements.

Our Australian first-drive review of the Kona Electric was initially set to be published on December 1, alongside our Kona Hybrid review, but the Electric's embargo was shifted to a 'TBC' date in December while the company finalises local pricing. Our existing new-gen Kona reviews can be found at the link below.

How has this come about?

Ordinarily, when ANCAP uses Euro NCAP crash tests to apply scores for the Australian market, it requires detailed, legally-binding confirmation from the manufacturer that its local models – which differ in being right-hand-drive and not always equipped with the same active safety systems – are a match for the vehicles tested in Europe.

A Hyundai Australia spokesperson has confirmed with Wheels that the business is working to get the necessary data to ANCAP as quickly as it can, acknowledging that the delay has not been ideal.