Posted on Monday 25 February 2008
As this year’s New York Auto Show approaches, organizers of the annual World Car of the Year awards have released details about the top three finalists for each of the World Car, World Performance Car, World Green Car and World Car Design categories. The final winner of each respective category will be revealed on March 20th at a press event in New York.
To be eligible for an award, the vehicles had to be in production, and sold, on at least two continents during 2008. The cars were shortlisted from an original field of 39 new models by a panel of 47 judges comprised of automotive journalists and industry officials from 24 countries. The top three finalists in each category are as follows:
World Car
Ford Mondeo
Mazda2 / Mazda Demio
Mercedes-Benz C-Class
World Performance Car
Audi R8
Audi S5 Coupe
BMW M3
World Green Car
BMW 118d with Efficient Dynamics
SmartForTwo cdi
Volkswagen Passat 1.9 TDI
World Car Design
Audi R8
Mazda2 / Mazda Demio
Volvo C30
Why there are cars from Europe only…? I thought it should be world car of the year…
Mazda is not European, but i do know what you mean. Most of these awards are quite biased according to the nationa and region they are based in
It is because most of the cars coming from the US are bad designs. But the new Corvette C6 should be in the list though.
“Why there are cars from Europe only…? I thought it should be world car of the year… “
As mentioned before, Mazda isn’t European. And the other reason is because American cars are largely terrible to drive. (yes i have driven many of the so called great american cars)…if there is a call for american cars to come into the reckoning, then the Australian Holden Commodore/Calais should be in the running also. It is sold in over 8 countries so is applicable and it is the one make that is actually makign a shed load of money for GM.
But this isnt a one eyed biased ask for nominations.
Therefore of those picked i would agree with them (although there seems to be alot of tail pipe humping of the Audi R8 ).
IMHO the winners in each category are:
The Mazda 2 (for CAR DESIGN - for re-defining what a small car should and can look like)
The Ford Mondeo (for WORLD CAR - for the style of the design and the brilliant driveability and putting paid to the need for a full sized family car when a medium to large car is big enough))
Audi R8 (for PERFORMANCE CAR - because it is a good car, but the love fest will need to be satiated, although the Porsche 911 GT2 should have been in here and would have been a worthy winner))
BMW 118d (for GREEN CAR - not because of the design of the car, but because BMW as a whole should be rewarded for their continued efforts in making diesel’s green in all aspects)
Hope you enjoy my picks