World Car Awards Announce Top Three Finalists For Each Category

The 2021 World Car Awards have entered their last lap, with the 'Top Three in the World' being announced across all five categories of awards - including the 2021 World Car of the Year. Some very interesting cars have made the shortlist after the second round of voting by the 93 World Car jurors around the globe. They are as follows.

World Car Of The Year (WCOTY)

World Car of the Year or WCOTY finalists.

The finalists for the World Car of the Year or WCOTY are the Honda-e, Toyota Yaris, and the Volkswagen ID.4. The latter being a crossover is pertinent, as it is the first time since 2015 that no full blown SUV has made it to the Top Three. It is also after a long time that we see two hatchbacks make the cut, and it is important to note that two of the three finalists are EVs.

Performance Car Of The Year

Performance Car Of The Year finalists.

For the 2021 World Performance Car, the final three are the Audi RS Q8 sports SUV, the Porsche 911 Turbo and the Toyota GR Yaris. While the former two are very obvious choices given their massive performance credentials, it is great to see a humbler hot hatch make the list too.

Urban Car Of The Year

Urban Car Of The Year finalists.

The Yaris nameplate shows up again in the 2021 World Urban Car list, though it is not the GR variant. It is joined by the Honda-e and the Honda Jazz - also known as Fit in some markets. The top 5 had also included the Hyundai i20 and Grand i10, both of which failed to advance to the last stage of competition.

Car Design Of The Year

Car Design Of The Year finalists.

And with Toyota getting three mentions for the Yaris family, please note that the Honda-e is quite the darling of the process this year. Not only has it been named a Top Three contender for the WCOTY and World Urban Car, but also finds itself shortlisted for the World Car Design award. Here the other nominees making the cut are the Land Rover Defender and the Mazda MX-30.

Luxury Car Of The Year

Luxury car of the year finalists.

And the Defender also makes the list for the 2021 World Luxury Car, along with the Polestar 2 and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Three very distinct and different vehicles, each with strong reasons for being there. Of course Mercedes-Benz has had the most wins in luxury so it will be interesting to see how this d]goes down!

Results for the World Car Awards will be announced on April 20 2021. There will be a lot of attention on the results. It is important to note that despite very strong runs, no Korean made car has made the Top Threes. And there is also no American car in the running. The World Car Awards will also be announcing the very prestigious Person of the Year award winner for 2021 in the coming days. Remember, India's Pratap Bose - design chief at Tata Motors, is one of the final five nominees on that shortlist.