From the 39 initial entrants, the running field for the World Car of the Year awards has been pared down to just three models. The top three in each category were announced at a Bridgestone-hosted conference at the Geneva Motor Show.
Following a recent first round of voting by 59 international motoring journalists, including the only South African juror, CAR's Hannes Oosthuizen, the top three finalists in the annual World Car of the Year competition have been revealed.
The finalists for the overall Word Car of the Year honours are the new Audi A8, the BMW 5 Series and, much to the surprise of many, the Nissan Leaf EV.
For Audi, winning the award would be a serious boost for the A8, which has traditionally taken a bit of a back seat to the likes of the BMW 7 Series and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Similarly, the ongoing battle between the latest iterations of the 5 Series and E-Class could well tip in the Bavarian’s favour should the BMW crack the nod. But the ultimate coup would be for Nissan if the Leaf manages to topple the Teutonic duo to become the first EV to claim the World CAR of the Year title.
In the performance category the Ferrari 458 Italia will do battle with the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and Porsche 911 Turbo, while at the opposite end of the scale the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt and BMW 320d EfficientDynamics Edition will square off for the green car of the year honours.
The final World Car of the Year category will see the
Aston Martin Rapide, Alfa Romeo Giulietta and Ferrari 458 Italia vying for the overall design award.
The winners of each category will be announced at the New York Auto Show on April 21.