While not as prestigious as the annual North American and European car of the year awards, the World Car of the Year awards is the one we look forward to the most as it includes separate categories for performance and luxury cars. There are five categories in fact, with the remaining three being the best overall car, the best design and the best green car.
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The judging is done exclusively by automotive journalists and there were 75 involved for the 2015 awards. As for the candidates, they must be new and available for sale on at least two continents during the time period between January 1, 2014 and May 31, 2015.
We now have the top ten finalists for the main categories (the lesser categories only have five finalists), all of which are listed below. Three finalists for each category will be named at next month’s Geneva Motor Show with the winners to be announced at April’s New York Auto Show. The winners last year were the Audi A3 (overall), Porsche 911 GT3 (performance), Mercedes-Benz S-Class (luxury), BMW i3 (green) and the BMW i3 again (design).
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The 2015 World Car of the Year will be selected from the following 10 finalists:
BMW 2-Series Active Tourer
Citroën C4 Cactus
Ford Mustang
Hyundai Genesis
Jeep Renegade
Mazda 2
Mercedes-Benz C-Class
MINI Hardtop 4 Door
Nissan Qashqai
Volkswagen Passat (European-spec)
The 2015 World Luxury Car will be selected from the following 10 finalists:
BMW i8
BMW X6
Cadillac ATS Coupe
Cadillac Escalade
Kia K900
Lexus NX
Lexus RC
Lincoln MKC
Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe
Land Rover Range Rover Autobiography Black Long-Wheelbase
The 2015 World Performance Car will be selected from the following 10 finalists:
Audi S1
Audi S3
Audi TT
Bentley Continental GT Speed
BMW M3/M4
Chevrolet Corvette Z06
Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat
Jaguar F-Type R Coupe
Lexus RC F
Mercedes-AMG GT
The 2015 World Green Car will be selected from the following five finalists:
BMW i8
Hyundai Tucson Fuel Cell
Kia Soul EV
Volvo XC90 T8
Volkswagen Golf GTE
The 2015 World Car Design will be selected from the following five finalists:
BMW 2-Series Active Tourer
Citroën C4 Cactus
Mercedes-Benz C-Class
Porsche Macan
Volvo XC90
