From an original field of several dozen cars, jurors in the 2014 World Car of the Year awards have whittled the list of contenders down to just a handful of finalists. This year, a new category for the World Luxury Car of the Year has been added, joining existing categories for the best World, Performance, Design and Green cars.

A winner for each category will be announced at the 2014 New York Auto Show on April 17, but now we have just three finalists remaining for each category. Interestingly, the recently announced winner of the 2014 European Car of the Year award, the Peugeot 308, has just been eliminated.

Doing the voting is a jury made up of 69 members, and to be eligible the contenders must become available for sale on at least two continents during the period beginning January 1, 2013 and ending May 30, 2014.

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Below are the three finalists for each category, listed in alphabetical order:

2014 World Car of the Year

Audi A3
BMW 4-Series
Mazda 3

Previous winners: Volkswagen Golf (2013), Volkswagen Up (2012), Nissan Leaf (2011)

2014 World Performance Car of the Year

Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
Ferrari 458 Speciale
Porsche 911 GT3

Previous winners: Porsche Boxster/Cayman (2013), Porsche 911 (2012), Ferrari 458 Italia (2011)

2014 World Luxury Car of the Year

Bentley Flying Spur
Land Rover Range Rover Sport
Mercedes-Benz S-Class

No previous winners since the category is new for the 2014 awards.

2014 World Green Car of the Year

Audi A3 Sportback e-tron (+ Audi e-gas)
BMW i3
Volkswagen XL1

Previous winners: Tesla Model S (2013), Mercedes-Benz S250 CDI BlueEfficiency (2012), Volkswagen BlueMotion range (2011)

2014 World Car Design of the Year

BMW i3
Mazda3
Mercedes-Benz C-Class

Previous winners: Jaguar F-Type (2013), Land Rover Range Rover Evoque (2012), Aston Martin Rapide (2011)

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