Every award sticker we found on the Passion Auto Show floor in Martigny checks out. Four cars wore one, the Renault Scénic, the Mercedes-Benz CLA, the Kia PV5 and the Alpine A290, and each had won its prize before the show opened. Other winners on the same floors wore nothing, and some of them had not won yet when we photographed them.
Four Stickers, Four Real Awards
We filmed the International Van of the Year PV5 at Passion Auto Show Martigny 2026. Our Kia PV5 First Look has the full story.
Renault Scénic: Car Of The Year, Two Months Earlier
On a Renault stand in April 2024, a white Scénic E-Tech electric carried a round sticker on its bonnet reading “The Car of the Year 2024”. The European Car of the Year jury named the Scénic its winner on 26 February 2024 in Geneva. It scored 329 points against 308 for the BMW 5 Series, 197 for the Peugeot 3008, 190 for the Kia EV9 and 168 for the Volvo EX30 (caroftheyear.org; Renault Switzerland, 26 February 2024).
The show opened two months later. In Switzerland the Scénic was priced at CHF 43,700 to CHF 49,700 at launch (auto-illustrierte, December 2023). It now lists at CHF 45,100 to CHF 48,900 (renault.ch, 15 October 2026).
Mercedes-Benz CLA: The 2026 Winner
In March 2026 a pale Mercedes-Benz CLA stood on Carline Automobiles Boisset’s stand with a “Car of the Year 2026” sticker on its windscreen. The European Car of the Year site lists the CLA as its 2026 winner, in an item dated 9 January 2026. Mercedes dealer Merbag lists the electric CLA saloon at CHF 57,400 to CHF 64,400.
Kia PV5: A First For Kia
On Cristal Garage’s stand, a grey Kia PV5 Passenger wore a round sticker that includes “International”, “2026” and “Kia PV5”. Kia Switzerland’s list of October 2026 runs from CHF 38,950 to CHF 51,250.
The sticker stands for the International Van of the Year 2026 award, presented on 19 November 2025 at the Solutrans show in Lyon. The jury is made up of commercial-vehicle journalists from 26 countries (Kia), and it is Kia’s first win in the category.
The award does not settle everything for a Swiss buyer. Kia Switzerland’s list still marks the PV5’s homologation as not finished.
The Winners Without Stickers
The World Car Awards fall between the Martigny editions, so the calendar decides what a dealer can put on the glass. The 2024 results came in March 2024, before the 26 to 28 April show. The Kia EV9 was World Car of the Year and World Electric Vehicle, the Volvo EX30 was World Urban Car and the Toyota Prius was World Car Design of the Year (worldcarawards.com).
Our photographs of the EV9 and the EX30 show no award sticker. The EV9 had only a “7 ans de service inclus” disc, and the Volvo had “EX30 is here.” on its door.
The 2025 results came on 16 April 2025, almost four weeks after the 21 to 23 March show. The Kia EV3 was World Car of the Year and the Volvo EX90 World Luxury Car. Our photographs of both cars were taken before those wins, so neither could have carried a sticker for them.
The BMW iX3 in Neue Klasse livery is the odd one out. BMW Switzerland says a 15-member jury named it Swiss Car of the Year 2026 at a gala on 15 January 2026, before the March show, yet it carries no sticker in our photograph. The worldwide title came later. The 2026 World Car Awards list the iX3 as their winner, and BMW dated that announcement 2 April 2026, days after Martigny.
| Award | Won | Martigny edition | Before the show? |
|---|---|---|---|
| European Car of the Year 2024, Scénic | 26 Feb 2024 | 26–28 Apr 2024 | Yes |
| World Car of the Year 2024, EV9 | March 2024 | 26–28 Apr 2024 | Yes |
| European Car of the Year 2025, Renault 5 and Alpine A290 | Jan 2025 | 21–23 Mar 2025 | Yes |
| World Car of the Year 2025, EV3 | 16 Apr 2025 | 21–23 Mar 2025 | No |
| International Van of the Year 2026, PV5 | 19 Nov 2025 | 27–29 Mar 2026 | Yes |
| European Car of the Year 2026, CLA | 9 Jan 2026 | 27–29 Mar 2026 | Yes |
| Swiss Car of the Year 2026, iX3 | 15 Jan 2026 | 27–29 Mar 2026 | Yes |
| World Car of the Year 2026, iX3 | 2 Apr 2026 (BMW) | 27–29 Mar 2026 | No |
We filmed the EV9 again for a second upload in June 2024. Our Kia EV9 GT-Line First Look has the full story.
We filmed the EV9 at Passion Auto Show Martigny 2024. Our Kia EV9 GT-Line First Look has the full story.
We filmed the EV3 at Passion Auto Show Martigny 2025, three weeks before it won World Car of the Year. Our Kia EV3 First Look has the full story.
Our Take
The stickers we found are accurate, and dealers have good reason to use them. An award is the one claim on a stand that a third party has made. The calendar is the check, because a sticker can only carry a prize that was already won, and in 2025 the show fell a few weeks before the biggest prizes of the year.
When a car on a dealer floor wears a prize, look for the award body’s date before the show’s. The rest of what we saw across three editions is in our Passion Auto Show report.
Correction, 15 October 2026: this article first said three cars wore award stickers. Our photographs from 2025 show a fourth, the Alpine A290 on Garage du Nord’s stand with its Car of the Year 2025 sticker.
Independent editorial. No brand or organiser paid for or reviewed this article.
