The winners of the 2016 World Car of the Year have been announced at a press conference held at the 2016 New York Motor Show. The 2016 World Car of the year is the Mazda MX-5 which has also taken top honours for world car design of the year.
The awards, which have been in effect since 2003, see 73 journalists from across 23 countries select vehicles for top honours across five categories. They are: world performance car of the year, green car of the year, car design of the year, luxury car of the year (since 2014) and finally world car of the year. To be eligible for the overall 2016 World Car award, the candidates must become available for sale in at least two continents during the period beginning January 1, 2015 and ending May 31, 2016.
Firstly, the world car of the year, as we had said earlier, is the Mazda MX-5. It beat out the Audi A4/A4 Avant as well as the India-bound Mercedes-Benz GLC crossover to take top honours. The MX-5 added a second feather in its roof by claiming world car design of the year which it managed to do by beating the Jaguar XE and Mazda CX 3.
The prize for world performance car of the year was picked by the second generation Audi R8 Coupe. It beat the Honda Civic Type R as well as the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Coupe to take the top spot on the podium.
Moving ahead, the world luxury car of the year was awarded to the new BMW 7 Series. It beat out the Audi Q7 and Volvo X90 to take the premiere prize. This marks the end of the reign for the Mercedes-Benz S-Class which took awards in 2014 (sedan) and 2015 (Coupe).
Finally, the prize for green car of year went to the Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. Its innovative powertrain and design saw it claim first prize ahead of its sister car, the Prius as well as the Chevrolet Volt, both of which were launched last year.
