The finalists for the 2016 World Car Awards (WCA) have been announced and the contenders for the prestigious World Car of the Year include a number of exciting newcomers to the South African market, including the imminently arriving Audi A4, Hyundai Tucson and some of the major introductions of 2015, such as the Jaguar XE, Land Rover Discovery Sport, Mazda CX-3 and Mazda MX-5 and the Mercedes-Benz GLC.
The top contenders for the 2016 World Car of the Year, World Luxury Car, World Performance Car and World Green Car were selected by a jury of 73 international motoring journalists, including former CAR deputy editor Mike Fourie, who is one of two South African representatives on the panel.
2016 marks the third consecutive year that the World Car Awards is the number one automotive awards program in the world in terms of media reach. The top three finalists will be announced at the Geneva Motor Show on March 1 and the overall winners in New York on March 24.
The international accounting firm KPMG tabulated the jurors’ ballots, then announced the finalists today.
The 2016 World Car of the Year will be selected from the following 10 finalists listed in alphabetical order.
Audi A4 Sedan / Audi A4 Avant
BMW X1
Hyundai Tucson
Jaguar XE
Land Rover Discovery Sport
Mazda CX-3
Mazda MX-5
Mercedes-Benz GLC
Skoda Superb
Toyota Prius
The 2016 World Luxury Car will be chosen from one of these top five finalists:
Audi Q7
BMW 7 Series (of which the local launch is currently underway)
Jaguar XF
Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe (as featured in CAR’s January 2016 Performance Shootout)
Volvo XC90
The 2016 World Performance Car top five finalists are:
Chevrolet Camaro
Honda Civic Type R (as featured in CAR’s January 2016 Performance Shootout)
Range Rover Sport SVR (as featured in CAR’s January 2016 Performance Shootout)
The 2016 World Green Car top five are:
BMW 330e Plug-in-hybrid
Chevrolet Volt
Toyota Prius (Hybrid)
Toyota Mirai (Hydrogen Fuel Cell)
Volkswagen Passat GTE
Meanwhile, a design panel comprising six respected world design experts established a short-list of recommendations for the jurors in the World Car Design of the Year category. The finalists are: the Cadillac CT6, Mazda CX-3, Mazda MX-5, Jaguar XE and Land Rover Discovery.
CARmag.co.za will report on the top three finalists in each of the categories of the WCA during the upcoming Geneva Show.
