2016 World Car Of The Year Contenders Announced At Frankfurt
After handing out the 2015 World Car of the Year Award to the Mercedes-Benz C-Class earlier this year at the New York Auto Show, it was time to look ahead and start the journey on the road to World Car of the Year for 2016.
Once again, the World Car Awards will consist of five categories, including the overall WCOTY title, World Luxury Car, World Performance Car, World Green Car and World Car Design of the Year. The eligible vehicles for 2016 are as follows:
The Overall World Car of the Year list includes the Audi A4 (Sedan and Avant), the BMW X1, the Cadillac CT6, the Chevrolet Malibu, the Ford Edge, the Honda HR-V, the Hyundai Tucson, the Jaguar XE, the Kia Optima, the Land Rover Discovery Sport, the Mazda CX-3, the Mazda MX-5, the Mercedes-Benz GLC, the Nissan Maxima, the Skoda Superb, the SsangYong Tivoli, the Subaru Levorg, the Subaru Outback, the Toyota Prius, the Vauxhall/Opel Astra and the Volkswagen Touran.
For the World Luxury Car of the Year title, the Audi Q7, the Bentley Mulsanne, the BMW 7 Series, the Infiniti Q30, the Jaguar XF, the Lexus RX, the Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupé and the Volvo XC90 have all been chosen.
The World Performance Car of the Year award will be handed to the most deserving between the Audi R8 Coupé, the Audi RS 3 Sportback, the BMW X5 M and X6 M, the Cadillac ATS-V, the Cadillac CTS-V, the Chevrolet Camaro, the Honda Civic Type R, the Mercedes-AMG C 63 Coupé and the Range Rover Sport SVR.
The World Green Car of the Year list consists of the BMW 330e plug-in hybrid, the Chevrolet Volt, the Mercedes-Benz C 350 e, the Nissan Murano Hybrid, the Nissan X-Trail Hybrid, the Toyota Mirai, the Toyota Prius and the Volkswagen Passat GTE.
Finally, the World Car Design of the Year will be decided between the Audi Q7, the Audi R8 Coupé, the BMW 2 Series Cabriolet, the BMW 7 Series, the Hyundai Creta and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupé.
All these cars and trucks will be test driven by a panel of 72 journalists from around the globe, two of them being Canadian (including yours truly). The top three finalists of each category will be announced in March 2016 at the Geneva Motor Show, and as usual, the winners will be unveiled at next year’s New York Auto Show in April. In terms of media reach, the World Car Awards have been ranked the number one automotive awards program in the world for the last three years.