At a press conference held at the Geneva Motor show yesterday the top three finalists for the World Car of the Year, World Performance Car, World Green Car and World Car Design of the Year awards were announced. Now in its eighth year, the annual World Car awards has become one of the world’s most prestigious, credible and significant programs of its kind.
From an entry list of 34 new vehicles from all over the world, ten were short listed. And now there are just three, in alphabetical order: the BMW 3 Series, the Porsche 911 (991) and the Volkswagen Up!. To be eligible for the overall World Car award, the candidates must become available for sale on at least two continents during the period beginning January 1, 2011 and ending May 30, 2012.
Vehicles are selected and voted on by an international jury panel comprised of 66 top-level automotive journalists from 25 countries, including CAR’s very own esteemed editor, Hannes Oosthiuzen. Each juror was appointed by the World Car Steering Committee on the basis of his or her expertise, experience, credibility, and influence. They typically drive and evaluate new vehicles on an ongoing basis as part of their professional work.
The top three finalists for the 2012 World Performance Car award are the Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4, the McLaren MP4-12C and the Porsche 911. This is the sixth out of seven times that Porsche has secured the top three position; this time round makes it Porsche’s fourth consecutive time.
While the winner of the overall World Car award must excel in a broad range of attributes, the World Performance Car award must demonstrate a specific and overt sports/performance orientation while satisfying the same availability criteria as for the overall World Car of the Year award.
The World Green Car award is presented by Bridgestone Corporation (Japan). Ryoji Yamada, General Manager of Brand Management said, “We are very pleased and honoured to sponsor the 2012 World Green Car award. The environment is everyone’s responsibility. And throughout our global family of companies, we take this responsibility very seriously. We believe it is our mission to serve society with superior quality… not just with eco-friendly products but also in the way we produce those products and the way in which we support our many communities with environmentally-friendly activities such as wildlife habitats and our Lake Biwa initiative in Japan “.
The jury chose the Ford Focus Electric, the Mercedes-Benz 250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY and the Peugeot 3008 Hybrid as the top three finalists for the 2012 World Green Car award.
The top three design finalists are the Citroën DS5, the Land Rover Evoque and the Volkswagen Up! This is the fifth time in five out of seven years that the Citroën design team has been a top three finalist in this category. Citroën also won the inaugural design award in 2006.
The overall winners in all categories will be declared at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday, April 5, 2012.