World Car of the Year finalists

As the New York Auto Show draws near, the field of entrants competing for the World Car of the Year has been narrowed down from a list of 28 new vehicles to just 3. The final 3 contenders are the Audi TT, Lexus LS460 and the MINI Mark 2. As much as we love the new MINI, we have our hopes set on Audi and its TT coupe taking top honors but we’ll have to wait until the winner is announced on April 5.

Judging the competition is a jury of 44 international motoring journos chosen on their respective levels of expertise, experience, credibility, and influence. Many new cars, especially the US domestics, weren’t eligible for the competition because its rules stipulates that entrants must be in production and sold in at least five countries on two continents during 2006.

In addition to the World Car of the Year, cars will also be judged in the World Performance Car, World Green Car and World Car Design of the Year categories. The finalists for the performance car award are the Audi RS4, BMW 335i and Porsche 911 Turbo and finalists for the green car include the BMW Hydrogen 7, Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec and the Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion. Finally, for the car design award, the finalists are the Audi TT, Citroen C4 Picasso and the Fiat Grande Punto.