LONDON: The Women's World Car of the Year is now present in 43 countries and on five continents.
Motoring journalist Hanne Hattrem has joined the international Women’s World Car of the Year team, the only car awards panel in the world comprised entirely of women who are experts in their field.
Her inclusion, which brings a wealth of experience to the mix, means Hanna and 59 motoring female journalists reach 43 countries through WWCOTY.
She started working as a journalist for the Norwegian Automobile Federation’s magazine, Motor, in 1988. Her background was from sports journalism, but she gradually learned about cars and has had a consumer-oriented mindset in writing about cars.
She was at Motor for 11 years and has since worked for several publications and for VG -Norway’s largest newspaper as a motor journalist since 2004. She mainly worked for the premium content department, VG+ (and print paper).
“The cars and the car industry’s transformation is really big and interesting. Lucky for me Norway is among the leading –or maybe 'the leading'– country in transformation to electric cars. It is an interesting journey and a pleasure to work with it. I enjoy being on the road, on my own or with motoring colleagues on test drives - and I also enjoy working in the office at VG, together with leading journalists in many fields," said Hattrem.
Norway is a small country with around 5.5 million people.
Of around three million cars the share of electric cars is close to 20 percent. The market share of electric cars is 78 percent of new car sales.
Norway has been among the leading countries in the green change and has provided substantial incentives for buying electric cars, including no tax nor buying fees which will be gradually implemented from 2023.
Norway’s politicians have decided that all new cars sale from 2025 will be electric.
Women's World Car of the Year was created by New Zealand motoring journalist, Sandy Myhre, in 2009. She is currently honorary president, while Marta García performs as executive president.
The aim of the unique award is to recognise the best cars of the year and to give a voice to women in the automotive world.
The voting criteria is based on the same principles that guide any driver when choosing a car. The selections are not "woman’s car" because such categories do not exist.
Aspects such as safety, quality, price, design, ease of driving, benefits and environmental footprint, among others, are taken into account when casting the votes.
