It is once again time for the best cars on the planet to be honoured at the World Car Awards. The awards programme has grown in stauture and numbers over the years, and as always we have nominees under different categories for the 2016 edition too. The World Car Awards are decided on by 73 jurors drawn from 23 countries. India is one of the few countries with terrific representation on the jury with 7 jurors. Only China and USA have more jurors, and Japan is also represented by 7 jurors.
All vehicles launched in the nomination period in 2015 would be eligible for the 2016 awards. But we have already had one round of shortlisting, so let me run you through the finalists for the various categories now.
The nominees for the 2016 World Green Car are: BMW 330e Plug-in Hybrid, Chevrolet Volt, Toyota Mirai, Toyota Prius, and the Volkswagen Passat GTE. There is a panel of green vehicle experts that helps shortlist the finalists for this category to help the 73 jurors in the first round.
It is a similar kind of expert panel on design that helps prune the list of the 2016 World Car Design of the Year nominees to the finalists. This year we have the Cadillac CT6, Jaguar XE, Land Rover Discovery Sport, Mazda CX-3, and the Mazda MX-5 as our finalists for design.
The hotly contested World Performance Car of the Year title has the new generation of both the Audi R8 Coupe and Chevrolet Camaro, Honda Civic Type R, Mercedes-AMG C 63 Coupe, and the Range Rover Sport SVR as the final nominees.
In the 2016 Luxury Car of the Year category the finalists are the 2nd gen Audi Q7, the 6th gen BMW 7 Series, 2nd gen Jaguar XF, Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe, and the 2nd gen Volvo XC90.
And finally for the biog one, the overall 2016 World Car of the Year, here is the shortlist of final nominees that the jury is voting on. 5th gen Audi A4, 2nd gen BMW X1, 3rd gen Hyundai Tucson, Jaguar XE, Land Rover Discovery Sport, Mazda CX-3, Mazda MX-5, Mercedes-Benz GLC, 3rd gen Skoda Superb and the 4th gen Toyota Prius.
The worldwide jury will vote on all these nominees, with the results tabulated and measured by KPMG. The top three in all categories will be revealed at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show in a few days time. The final results will only be known at the 2016 New York Auto Show in April.
Volkswagen has won the World Car Of the Year title 4 times since the awards began in 2005. Audi has won it twice, while BMW, Lexus, Mazda, and Mercedes-Benz have taken the award once each. Will we have a new brand joining that illustrious list? All eyes on the New York Show for the 2016 winners!
