World Car Of The Year Finalists Announced

Published: Thursday, March 14, 2013, 12:14 [IST]

World Car Awards was started in the 2003 and has been giving out World Car Of the Year Awards annually since 2004. Judges panel consist of 62 renowned automotive journalists from all over the world, who are tasked with the tough job selecting the best cars from different categories.

This year's World Car of the Year Awards finalists have finally been announced and the winners from each category will be revealed at the New York International Auto Show on March 28. The different categories are World Car of the Year, World Performance Car, World Green Car and World Car Design of the Year.

World Car of the Year Finalists

The panel shortlisted 10 cars from the initial 42 entries. Now the final four remain.
"In the voting for this year's WCOTY award, we saw a very closely fought race which resulted in not three, but four finalists!" explained World Car Awards co-chair, Peter Lyon.

World Car of the Year Finalists

Mercedes-Benz A-Class

World Car of the Year Finalists

Porsche Boxster / Cayman

World Car of the Year Finalists

The combined entry Scion FR-S / Subaru BRZ / Toyota 86 / GT 86.

World Car of the Year Finalists

Volkswagen Golf

World Performance Car

Besides selecting The World Performance Car based on performance related factors, the cars also must have a minimum annual production rate of five-hundred (500) vehicles and should be available in at least two continents.

World Performance Car

Ferrari F12 Berlinetta

World Performance Car

Porsche Boxster / Cayman. Again

World Performance Car

The combined entry Scion FR-S / Subaru BRZ / Toyota 86 / GT 86 once again.

World Green Car

The best green cars were initially selected by specialists Phil Berg (USA - PopularMechanics.com), Richard Bremner (U.K. - cleangreencars.co.uk), Claus-Peter Koeth (Germany - automobil-industrie.de), Tadashi Tateuchi (Japan - Japan Electric Vehicle Club) and John Voelcker (USA - GreenCarReports.com), after which the final list was handed over to the 62 member jury panel who decided the finalists.

World Green Car

Renault Zoe

World Green Car

Tesla Model S

World Green Car

Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid.

World Car Design of the Year

Like in the Green Car category, the best designed cars were first shortlisted by design experts Masatsugu Arimoto (Japan), Silvia Baruffaldi (Italy), Gernot Bracht (Germany), Sam Livingstone (UK) and Tom Matano (USA). Jurors then voted on the experts' recommendations.