Euro NCAP has revealed the top performers of last year’s crash safety tests, which saw electric vehicles take a prominent role.

The Mercedes EQS was the overall winner in the ‘Executive Car’ and ‘Pure Electric’ categories

The organisation tested 33 new cars in 2021, of which 22 achieved the top five-star rating.

The Mercedes EQS was the overall winner in the ‘Executive Car’ and ‘Pure Electric’ categories, narrowly beating runner-up, the Polestar 2.

Meanwhile Škoda’s first all-electric SUV, the Enyaq iV, took the award in the ‘Large-Off Road’ category.

Elsewhere, the Nissan Qashqai excelled in the ‘Small Off-Road’ category due to its outstanding performance in active safety, the Toyota Yaris Cross took the top spot in the ‘Small MPV’ category and the Škoda Fabia was the best ‘Small Family Car’.

Dr Michiel van Ratingen, Euro NCAP secretary general, said: “2021 was a tough year for the car industry: a shortage of parts, semiconductors in particular, was the sting in the tail of the Covid crisis, affecting development timelines, production and sales. Still, we saw quite a number of new car models coming to the market, many of them electric or hybrid, and many of them achieving five-star ratings despite the demanding requirements.

“Well done to the winners as well as to the runners-up, some of which were very close contenders for the top slot in their respective categories.”

Euro NCAP’s Best in Class cars of 2021:

Executive winner: Mercedes-Benz EQS. Runner-up: Polestar 2

Large off-road winner: Škoda Enyaq iV. Runner-up: BMW iX

Small family car winner: Škoda Fabia. Runner-up: –

Small off-road winner: Nissan Qashqai. Runner-up: Volkswagen ID.4

Small MPV winner: Toyota Yaris Cross. Runner-up: Volkswagen Caddy

Pure electric winner: Mercedes-Benz EQS. Runner-up: Polestar 2