The long journey to this year’s World Car of the Year has begun with the announcement of the ten finalists in the main category of the competition, plus the top four finalists in the five additional World Car Awards. The winners will be announced on April 5 during the 2023 New York International Auto Show.
The WCOTY jury includes 100 international automotive journalists from 32 countries around the world. The 10 finalists were chosen from an initial list of 30 contenders. Without further ado, these are this year’s finalists in the main category:
World Car of the Year finalists:
Alfa Romeo Tonale
BMW 2 Series Coupé
BMW X1 / iX1
Honda HR-V (NA) / ZR-V (JP, CH, ASEAN)
Hyundai Ioniq 6
Kia Niro
Mazda CX-60
Mercedes-Benz C
Nissan Ariya
Nissan Z
Below are the top five finalists in each of the competition’s four additional categories. It’s important to note there were just three entries in the World Urban Car segment, which means all three candidates automatically become finalists. As weird as it seems, the Citroen C3 is one of the three finalists in this class, though this one is not the European model, but the one that’s produced in India.
World Electric Vehicle finalists:
BMW i7
Genesis GV60
Hyundai Ioniq 6
Kia Niro EV
Lucid Air
World Luxury Car finalists:
BMW 7 Series / i7
Genesis G90
Land Rover Range Rover
Land Rover Range Rover Sport
Lucid Air
World Performance Car finalists:
BMW M4 CSL
Kia EV6 GT
Nissan Z
Porsche 911 (992) GT3 RS
Toyota GR Corolla
World Urban Car finalists:
Citroen C3
ORA Funky Cat / Haomao
Volkswagen Taigo/Nivus
Additionally, there’s a design award. The design panel includes six top design experts, such as Ian Callum and Shiro Nakamura. The jurors selected the following vehicles as finalists in this class: Cadillac Lyriq, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Land Rover Range Rover, Lucid Air, and Nissan Z.
In the next stage, the top three models will be announced on March 7, followed by the declaration of the winners in all categories on April 5.
