The Road to the World Car starts now, and will conclude at the New York International Auto Show.

The Road to the World Car continues with today’s announcement of the finalists in all five award categories.

This release kicks off the countdown for the 2016 World Car Awards (WCA) prize-giving ceremony to be hosted by the New York International Auto Show on Thursday, March 24, 2016. Winners of the 2016 World Car of the Year, World Luxury Car, World Performance Car, World Green Car and World Car Design of the Year will all be declared at this time.

2016 marks the 10th anniversary of the partnership between World Car and the New York show, and the third consecutive year that the World Car Awards have retained their ranking as the number one automotive awards program in the world in terms of media reach.

The Global Trends Report, presented annually by Prime Research and Autoneum, will also be announced during the New York show press conference and media breakfast hosted by Bridgestone Corporation. The report is the culmination of research and insights across the past six months.

A jury of 73 distinguished international automotive journalists selected the following finalists by secret ballot based on their evaluation with each candidate as part of their professional work. For more details about our jurors and their outlets, please visit our web site:  www.wcoty.com and click < Jurors.

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
• Jaguar XF
• Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe
• Volvo XC90

The 2016 World Performance Car top five finalists are:

• Audi R8 Coupe
• Chevrolet Camaro
• Honda Civic Type R I
• Mercedes-AMG C 63 Coupé
• Range Rover Sport SVR

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

Cars eligible for the 2016 World Car Design of the Year award are taken from the list of World Car candidates or may be included as a stand-alone entry provided the vehicle is available in quantities of at least 10 in one major market during the period beginning January 1, 2015 and ending May 31, 2016.  Candidates may be pre-production or all-new production.

A design panel consisting of six highly respected world design experts was asked to first review each candidate, and then establish a short-list of recommendations for the jurors.  

The design experts are in alpha order:  Masatsugu Arimoto (Japan – Freelance design journalist), Anne Asensio (Vice-President, Design - Dassault Systemes), Gernot Bracht (Germany – Pforzheim Design School), Patrick le Quément (Designer and President of the Strategy Committee - The Sustainable 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 five finalists chosen for the jurors are:

• Cadillac CT6
• Mazda CX-3
• Mazda MX-5
• Jaguar XE
• Land Rover Discovery

The Road to the World Car began in Frankfurt on September 15, was followed by a four and a half day stop in Los Angeles for test-drives of the North American, Japanese and Swedish contenders in November, and continues with today’s finalists’ announcement. 

The next stop is at the Geneva International Auto Show on Tuesday, March 1 when the top three finalists in all categories will be announced.   The journey ends at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday, March 24, 2016 when all winners are declared.

As the global nature of the industry continues to strengthen, and the pace of innovation continues to accelerate, World Car is proud to be a part of this amazing journey along with the New York International Auto Show, Prime Research, Bridgestone and Autoneum.