Not to be outdone by the more established North American Car Of The Year and European Car Of The Year awards, the World Car Of The Year award is starting to gain more prominence in the auto show arena despite being the relative newcomer. The award event is now entering its 10th year and will culminate at the 2014 New York Auto Show in April where the winners for the respective World, Performance, Design and Green categories, plus a new Luxury category, will be announced.

Recently, lists of candidates for each of the categories were revealed; for the World category, we’d pick the Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class and Opel Cascada as strong contenders while in the Performance category there are just too many strong contenders to choose from (standouts include the Alfa Romeo 4C, Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, Ferrari 458 Speciale and Porsche 911 GT3). In the new Luxury category Porsche Macan and Mercedes-Benz S-Class are looking like favorites.

We’re not doing to the judging, however. That task will be taken care of by dozens of jurors representing more than 20 countries. To be eligible, the candidates must become available for sale on at least two continents during the period beginning January 1, 2013 and ending May 30, 2014.

Last year

, the Volkswagen Golf took World honors, while the Performance award went to the Porsche Boxster, the Design award to the Jaguar F-Type and the Green award to the Tesla Model S.

The candidates for the 2014 World Car Of The Year award (as well as the Design award) are as follows:

Acura MDX
Audi A3
BMW 2-Series
BMW 4-Series
BMW i3
Cadillac CTS
Chevrolet Impala
Citroen C4 Picasso
Fiat 500L
Ford EcoSport
Ford Fusion/Mondeo
Hyundai i10
Hyundai Santa Fe
Infiniti Q50
Jeep Cherokee
Kia Soul
Kia Carens/Rondo
Lexus IS
Mazda3
Mercedes-Benz GLA-Class
MINI Cooper
Opel Cascada
Peugeot 308
Skoda Octavia
Seat Leon
Subaru Forester
Toyota RAV4
Toyota Corolla

Hit the next page to see the candidates for the 2014 Performance Car Of The Year award.

Ferrari 458 Speciale

Ferrari 458 Speciale

The candidates for the 2014 Performance Car Of The Year award are as follows:

Alfa Romeo 4C
Aston Martin Rapide S
Aston Martin V12 Vantage S
Audi RS 6 Avant
Audi RS 6 Avant
Audi RS 7 Sportback
Audi RS Q3
Audi S3 Sedan/Sportback
Audi SQ5
BMW M6 Gran Coupe
Cadillac CTS VSport
Cadillac XTS VSport
Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
Chevrolet SS
Ferrari 458 Speciale
Ford Fiesta ST
Jaguar XJR
Kia cee’d GT
Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 Roadster
Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG/CLA45 AMG
Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Edition 507
Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG S-Model
Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG
Mini JCW Paceman
Porsche 911 GT3
Porsche 911 Turbo
Volkswagen Golf GTI

Hit the next page to see the candidates for the 2014 Luxury Car Of The Year award and the Green Car Of The Year award.

2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class (S500)

2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class (S500)

The candidates for the 2014 Luxury Car Of The Year award are as follows:

Bentley Flying Spur
BMW X5
Cadillac ELR
Cadillac Escalade
Maserati Ghibli
Maserati Quattroporte
Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Porsche Macan
Range Rover Sport
Rolls-Royce Wraith

2014 Cadillac ELR

2014 Cadillac ELR

The candidates for the 2014 Green Car Of The Year award are as follows:

Audi A3 Sportback g-tron (natural gas vehicle)
BMW i3
Cadillac ELR
Chevrolet Spark EV
Fiat 500e
Honda Accord Hybrid
Hyundai ix35 Fuel Cell
Infiniti Q50 Hybrid
Mercedes-Benz S-300 BlueTEC Hybrid
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
Porsche Panamera S E Hybrid
Range Rover Hybrid
Subaru XV HYBRID
Volkswagen XL1

Over the coming months, each of the candidate lists will be whittled down to just the finalists, before the winners of each of the categories will be announced at the 2014 New York Auto Show in April.

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