Jurors of the 2014 World Car Awards (WCA) have announced the finalists for the 2014 World Car of the Year, World Luxury Car and World Performance Car awards that will be released on April 17, at the New York International Auto Show (NYIAS).
Prior to the New York ceremony, WCA will announce the top three finalists in all award categories at the Geneva Motor Show on March 4. However, until then, let’s meet the current finalists of each category elected by the jury of 69 international automotive journalists.
The top category, the 2014 World Car of the Year, has 12 finalists due to a multiple tie. In alphabetical order the finalists are the Audi A3, BMW 4-Series, BMW i3, Cadillac CTS, Citroen C4 Picasso, Ford Fusion / Mondeo, Infiniti Q50, Jeep Cherokee, Lexus IS, Mazda3, Peugeot 308 and Skoda Octavia. Last year, the award went to the VW Golf.
For the first ever 2014 World Luxury Car category, the jurors elected the following ten finalists: Bentley Flying Spur, BMW X5, Cadillac ELR, Cadillac Escalade, Maserati Ghibli, Maserati Quattroporte, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Porsche Macan, Range Rover Sport and Rolls-Royce Wraith. This new category was created to “acknowledge higher-priced premium models selling in more limited numbers worldwide”.
Moving on to the players for the 2014 World Performance Car award, the finalists are: Alfa Romeo 4C, Audi RS 6 Avant, BMW M6 Gran Coupe, Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, Ferrari 458 Speciale, Ford Fiesta ST, Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 Roadster, Mercedes-Benz A/CLA45 AMG, Porsche 911 GT3, Porsche 911 Turbo, Volkswagen Golf GTI. Last year’s winner of this award was the Porsche Boxster/Cayman.
WCA’s other two awards, the World Green Car and World Car Design of the Year, are handled differently. In the former, finalists are elected by five experts in green technology, with this year’s nominees being the Audi A3 Sportback e-tron (+ Audi e-gas), BMW i3, Honda Accord Hybrid, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and Volkswagen XL1.
Finally, for the 2014 World Car Design of the Year, finalists were elected by a design panel consisting of five highly respected world design experts. These year’s finalists are the BMW i3, Cadillac CTS, Citroen C4 Picasso, Mazda3, Lexus IS, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Volkswagen XL1.
By Dan Mihalascu
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