The prestigious Danish journalist joins WWCOTY – the only jury in the world formed exclusively of female motoring journalists.
The Women’s Worldwide Car of the Year is now present in 52 countries on all five continents.
February 2024 – The Women’s Worldwide Car of the Year (WWCOTY), is pleased to announce that Benedicte Engel has joined its international jury. WWCOTY is the only car awards in the world composed exclusively of women motoring journalists, and with Benedicte Engel’s appointment, now features 75 judges from 52 countries.
In 2015 Benedicte Engel founded Kvindernes Bilmagasin, an online news media outlet about cars communicated specifically to women. From the beginning it published car reviews and the latest news from the automotive world and in particular the ‘green transition’. Besides that, she runs the Female Drivers Club, which is a Business Network for women in the car industry. In Denmark there is just one female employee out of every 10 workers in the automotive world.
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Benedicte Engel grew up in a family where motorsport has been present for four generations. Her great-grandfather started the importation of Benz in Denmark at the beginning of the 19th century and he was the first to build a car shop with an electric car elevator in Copenhagen. Her grandfather was a Volvo dealer in the 1960-1970s for many years and her father took over that business in 1970-1980s. “I have always been a huge car geek. I played more with cars than dolls when I was a little girl”, says Benedicte Engel.
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She was educated as a sales consultant for Mercedes-Benz and sold cars for six years in a car dealership. Here she found how female customers were overlooked and misunderstood. “I discovered when a couple came into the shop, my colleagues only spoke to the man even though it was the wife they were buying a new car for”, she explains.
From then, Benedicte Engel has fought to increase the visibility of women in the car industry. This, and her excellent professional career, is why WWCOTY has decide to call her to its ranks. “I have followed WWCOTY since its beginning and it has always been a dream for me to be a part of the jury”.
About Denmark
There is a lot of focus on the green transition in Denmark. More and more Danish people are buying electric cars. This is why the Danish government adjusted its plans for the faster establishment of more charging stations. In Denmark, is possible to buy an electric car for less than DKK 200,000, (US$28,800) which is quite revolutionary and is clearly a way for more Danish to choose an electric car.
About Women’s Worldwide Car of the Year
Women’s Worldwide Car of the Year is the only car awards group in the world comprised exclusively of women motoring journalists. It was created by New Zealand motoring journalist Sandy Myhre in 2009. She is Honorary President while Marta García is Executive President.
This unique award aims to recognise the best cars of the year and to give a voice to women in the automotive world. The voting criteria are based on the same principles that guide any driver when choosing a car. The jurors do not select a ‘woman’s car’ because cars are not gender specific. Aspects such as safety, quality, price, design, ease of driving, benefits and environmental footprint, among others, are considered when casting the votes.
However, beyond choosing the best cars of the year, our goal is also to give visibility to women in the automotive world and to contribute to making women’s voices heard on all continents because mobility for a woman means access to many personal and professional possibilities.
for women, Kvindernes Bilmagasin