The top three finalists for the 2014 World Car of the Year, World Luxury Car, World Performance Car, World Green Car and World Car Design of the Year award have been announced at the Geneva Show.
World Car of the Year
From an initial entry list of twenty-four new vehicles from all over the world, then a short list of finalists, the top three contenders for the overall 2014 World Car of the Year title have been revealed. They are, the Audi A3, BMW 4 Series and Mazda3.
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, 2013 and ending May 31, 2014.
Vehicles are selected and voted on by an international jury panel comprised of sixty-nine top-level automotive journalists from twenty-two countries around the world. Each juror was appointed by the World Car Awards’ Steering Committee on the basis of his or her expertise, experience, credibility, and influence. Each juror typically drives and evaluates new vehicles on a regular basis as part of their professional work. All hold significant stature within their own regions and countries.
World Luxury Car
This is the first year for the World Luxury Car award. This new category is created to acknowledge higher-priced premium models selling in more limited numbers worldwide. The finalists are Bentley Flying Spur, Mercedes-Benz S-Class and Range Rover Sport.
World Performance Car
This year, we were faced with a vast array of legitimate performers from every price bracket imaginable. The top three finalists are: the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, Ferrari 458 Speciale and Porsche 911 GT3.
World Green Car
Five experts in “green” technology are appointed annually by the World Car Awards Steering Committee to extensively review all documentation and specs associated with each candidate on the list of nominees. The experts then create a short-list of finalists for review by the sixty-nine jurors in their second round of voting.
The jurors chose these top three finalists for 2014: Audi A3 Sportback g-tron (+ Audi e-gas), BMW i3 and Volkswagen XL1.
The five experts on the advisory panel are in alphabetical order: Phil Berg (USA – PopularMechanics.com); Richard Bremner (U.K. Autocar magazine), Claus-Peter Koeth (Germany – automobil-industrie.de); Yumi Kawabata (Japan-environmental journalist) and John Voelcker (USA – GreenCarReports.com)
World Car Design of the Year
Again, a design panel consisting of five highly respected world design experts was asked to first review each candidate, and then establish a short-list of recommendations for the jurors. The jurors chose the following top three finalists are: BMW i3, Mazda3 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class.
The design experts for 2014 are Masatsugu Arimoto (Japan – freelance design journalist); Silvia Baruffaldi (Italy – Auto & Design magazine); Gernot Bracht (Germany – Pforzheim Design School); Sam Livingstone (U.K. – Car Design Research and Royal College of Art) and Tom Matano (USA – School of Industrial Design at Academy of Art University in San Francisco)
The overall winners in all categories will be announced at the New York International Show next month.
