Wards 10 Best UX ‘Best in Show’ Honor Goes to Hyundai Sonata

On Wednesday, the Nissan Sentra won “Best in Show” among 2020 Wards 10 Best Interiors winners, and on Thursday the Hyundai Sonata was the top vote getter among Wards 10 Best UX winners at this week’s Summer Festival of Automotive.

The three-day virtual event hosted by Wards’ parent company Informa Tech encompassed the WardsAuto Interiors Conference and WardsAuto UX Conference, as well as TU-Automotive Detroit, TU’s ADAS & Autonomous Vehicles Conference and TU’s Connected Car Insurance Conference. The event ended Thursday.

A virtual ceremony honored the 10 Best UX on Thursday, with video profiles produced by WardsAuto and acceptance speeches from the winning automakers. All the video content will be posted on WardsAuto.com in the coming weeks.

During the 10 Best UX ceremony, virtual attendees were encouraged to vote for their favorite among the 10 winners, and the Sonata was the top vote getter as Best in Show.

Wards editors in Detroit evaluated 18 vehicles with new or significantly improved user-experience features (such as touchscreens, voice controls, infotainment and driver-assistance technologies) in June in selecting this year’s 10 Best UX.

Judges found the Sonata to be a stunning UX value with big displays, high-resolution graphics, responsive voice control, a premium audio system and upscale materials, all for under $35,000 as tested.

“We wanted to offer a premium experience in the 2020 Hyundai Sonata because we understand what our customers desire for their in-vehicle user experience,” says CJ Eckman, Hyundai’s manager of IOT Planning and Connected Car.

“To receive recognition by Wards and then from our industry peers for the Best in Show UX award during the annual conference is a huge accomplishment.”

This week’s Summer Festival of Automotive was completely virtual, but next year’s event potentially will be live, in Metro Detroit, depending on the COVID-19 infection rate.

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