Just a few weeks ago we saw the entire list of nominees for the World Car of the Year awards, as well as the separate Performance, Green and Design categories, which are held annually at the New York Auto Show.

In total, there were more than 40 contenders originally but this list has since been whittled down to just 10 finalists for the respective World and Performance Car of the Year titles and just 6 finalists for the Green title.  

Though we may not agree with all the finalists, for the most part the remaining cars seem reasonable and are worthy of their placement. We’re a little surprised to see that the Lexus LFA was excluded from the Performance category while two different Porsche 911 variants made it.

The final winners will be announced at the 2011 New York Auto Show, which kicks off on April 21, however, the top three finalists in all award categories will be announced at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show next month.

Previous World Car of the Year winners were the Volkswagen Polo in 2010, the Volkswagen Golf in 2009, the Mazda2 / Mazda Demio in 2008, the Lexus LS460 in 2007, the BMW 3-Series in 2006, and the Audi A6 in 2005.

Previous World Performance Car winners were the Audi R8 V10 in 2010, the Nissan GT-R in 2009, the Audi R8 in 2008, the Audi RS4 in 2007 and the Porsche Cayman S in 2006.

Hit the following page to see the finalists for the World, Performance and Green Car of the Year awards.

The 2011 World Car of the Year will be selected from the following top ten cars listed in alphabetical order:

Audi A1
Audi A8
BMW 5 Series
BMW X3
Jaguar XJ
Jeep Grand Cherokee
Mercedes-Benz SLS
Nissan LEAF
Porsche Cayenne
Volvo S60 / V60 

The 2011 World Performance Car will be chosen from one of these top ten finalists:

Aston Martin Rapide
Audi RS 5 Coupe
Cadillac CTS-V Coupe
Ferrari 458 Italia
Lamborghini Gallardo SUPERLEGGERA
Mercedes-Benz S63 / CL 63 AMG
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
Porsche 911 GT2RS
Porsche 911 Turbo
Renault Megane III / Renault Sport

The six 2011 World Green Car finalists are in alphabetical order:

BMW 320d Efficient Dynamics Edition
Chevrolet Volt
Hyundai Sonata Hybrid
Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-Cell
Nissan LEAF
Smart electric drive