Traditionally our Safest Car award is decided with weighted-score data from ANCAP, the Australasian crash test/active safety authority. These weighted scores are not generally circulated to the public; ANCAP’s published data focuses on individual performance in areas such as Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant, Vulnerable Road User and Safety Assists.
ANCAP was unable to provide those weighted scores to us in 2025 for various reasons (it’s complicated). So we’ve done something a little different. In the awards “of the year” spirit, we’ve looked only at new cars assessed by ANCAP in 2025 (limited to those currently on sale in the New Zealand market) and calculated our own averages across the four major test areas.
Different methodology, same result: the Tesla Model Y came out top again, as it did in 2024. And 2023. And 2022. Very close behind was the Tesla Model 3, which should not surprise because it’s basically the same car underneath.
But a newcomer made a strong showing in third place overall: MG Motor’s new luxury EV, the IM6.
A couple more relevant figures: the top Adult Occupant Protection score (generally regarded as a key one in the ANCAP world) of 92 per cent was achieved by three EVs: the Audi A6 e-tron, Polestar 4 and Volvo EX90 (the latter a model not yet on sale here).
Runners up: Tesla Model 3, IM6.
Check out the other Category Winners here
And don't forget the Overall Winner will be announced at 7am on Friday, December 5.