Lexus LS460 named World Car of the Year

Lexus' flagship luxury saloon has been named the best car in the world by an international panel of journalists. Facing tough competition from the new Audi TT and the revised Mini Cooper, the LS460 won because of its excellent build quality, reliability, and the luxurious ride. The LS460 also showcased a number of new technologies that will eventually trickle down to more common cars, which is also the case with its arch-rival, the Mercedes S-class.

The award was announced at the New York auto show, along with the results for the other categories of awards.

Mercedes Benz has been touting its new Bluetec diesel technology and this was recognized by the panel as a deserving winner for the World Green Car of the Year. Audi’s design renaissance is reflected in the new TT, which grabbed the World Car Design award.

The award we’re most interested in, though, is the Performance Car of the Year, which was scooped by the Audi RS4. Audi has had a reputation for poor ride quality and a lack of steering feel, but the engineers behind the RS4 have overcome these issues and delivered a true bahnstormer. Next year we expect the PCOTY race to be even tighter with the BMW M3, Audi RS5, and Mercedes C63 AMG fighting it out for the honours.