It is a difficult task to hand out to just one winner. The pressure is immense even when we credibly choose India's best car during the annual CNB Awards process, so imagine the pressure to get things right to choose the world's best! Well luckily for me that pressure is shared by 68 others! The annual World Car Awards are now being increasingly recognised as the most credible and relevant honour in the international automobile industry. And that is simply because the awards are not handed out with a bias to any one region, or publication. While others like the North American or European Car of the Year are also prestigious, this one is now being seen as truly global. Which is why I am happy to be a part of that process. 69 jurors from 22 countries vote to arrive at the most deserving winners every year.
And yes, India is well represented unlike a few years ago. Only the USA (10 jurors), China (7 jurors), UK and Japan (6 jurors each), have more representatives on the jury than India does (we have 4 jurors). The fact that we have more representation than even Germany suggests the growing importance of India in the global scheme of things. Right, some of you already know most of this, as I have now been talking about this for the past 4 years - as long as I have served on this jury. So let me talk about the 2014 World Car Awards now! The big news really was the introduction of an all new category - the World Luxury Car. This was being seen as a growing necessity given the massive growth of segmentation and volume being seen within the premium car space. Besides this the other categories remain: World Performance Car, World Green Car and of course the big one - World Car of 2014.
The first round of voting to choose the Top Ten in all categories, always happens in January - though a list of all eligible vehicles is circulated to us well before that, so that we have a chance to test as many of them as we possibly can. The global car industry is aware of all the jurors - so as to facilitate testing in cases where a certain vehicle may not be sold in the juror's home market - as is often the case in India, especially for the Performance Car category! In February the Top Ten get announced, and the second round of voting happens. This then whittles it down further, and based on the juror votes, the Top Three are announced at the Geneva Motor Show in early March. Of course this is never in order of actual scores, as that would reveal the winner! The actual announcement of the winners happens at the annual new York Auto Show in April.
Like always, this year too we have some interesting and very deserving nominees. Let's run you through them:
2014 World Car Of The Year
Total Nominees: 22 Cars
Top Twelve: (There were two ties, hence instead of 10, we had 12 finalists): Audi A3, BMW 4 Series, BMW i3, Cadillac CTS, Citroen C4, Ford Mondeo/Fusion, Infiniti Q50, Jeep Cherokee, Lexus IS, Mazda3, Peugeot 308, Skoda Octavia.
Top Three: Audi A3, BMW 4 Series, Mazda3
While the Germans always do well, this is the second year in a row that Mazda has broken into top contention. The Mazda6 had been a strong finalist last year, and also went into the Top Three for the Design Award. But it is good to see an Asian manufacturer right up there too. The Mazda2 had won the World Car title in 2008, while the Lexus LS460 had won in 2007. And the last Mazda MX5 was the first runner-up in 2006, losing out to the last generation BMW 3 Series.
2014 World Car Design Of The Year
(The Design Award category is first previewed by a panel comprising five respected global design experts, who review all the launches of the year, and then come up with a shortlist which the jurors vote on. The design experts for 2014 are Masatsugu Arimoto (Japan - freelance design journalist), Silvia Baruffaldi (Italy - Auto & Design magazine), Gernot Bracht (Germany - Pforzheim Design School), Sam Livingstone (U.K. - Car Design Research and Royal College of Art) and Tom Matano (USA - School of Industrial Design at Academy of Art University in San Francisco)
Total Nominees: 7 Cars
Top Seven: (only 7 cars made it to the shortlist this year): BMW i3, Cadillac CTS, Citroen C4 Picasso, Lexus IS, Mazda3, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Volkswagen XL1
Top Three: BMW i3, Mazda3, Mercedes-Benz C-Class
Once again Mazda's Kodo styling has been seen as immensely attractive and just like the market, the reaction from the jury has been very complimentary. The 6 had lost out to the Jaguar F-Type last year, so let's see if the new BMWi brand sneaks ahead or the baby S-Class as it is being called - the new C - takes the prize home.
2014 World Performance Car Of The Year
Total Nominees: 26 Cars
Top Eleven: (Again there was one tie in the first round of voting, so instead of a Top 10, we have 11): Alfa Romeo 4C, Audi RS 6 Avant, BMW M6 Gran Coupe, Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, Ferrari 458 Speciale, Ford Fiesta ST, Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 Roadster, Mercedes-Benx A/CLA45 AMG, Porsche 911 GT3, Porsche 911 Turbo, Volkswagen Golf GTI
Top Three: Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, Ferrari 458 Speciale, Porsche 911 GT3
The Porsche family has been very strong indeed, with the Boxster winning this award last year, and the 911 always being a strong contendor. The same is true for the prancing horse from Maranello, so it will be interesting to see if what's being called the most capable Corvette in years manages to topple the Europeans!
2014 World Green Car Award
(Five experts in green technologies are appointed annually by the World Car Awards Steering Committee to extensively review all documentation and specs associated with each candidate on the list of nominees. The experts then create a shortlist of finalists for review by the jurors in their second round of voting. The five experts on the advisory panel are: Phil Berg (USA - PopularMechanics.com), Richard Bremner (Autocar UK magazine), Claus-Peter Koeth (Germany - automobil-industrie.de), Yumi Kawabata (Japanese Environmental Journalist) and John Voelcker (USA - GreenCarReports.com))
Total Nominees: 14 Cars
Top Five: Audi A3 Sportback g-tron, BMW i3, Honda Accord Hybrid, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Volkswagen XL1
Top Three: Audi A3 Sportback g-tron, BMW i3, Volkswagen XL1
The Germans are clearly dominating this year. The big emphasis on getting it right with greener, yet performance-oriented vehicles from the Europeans - especially the Germans has really upped the game when it coems to the green car. In the past cars like the Nissan Leaf (winner of overall World Car in 2011), the current generation Toyota Prius have showed the Japanese grip on this space. But last year's winner was the Tesla Model S, and this year it will be a German for sure!
2014 World Luxury Car Of The Year
Total Nominees: 10 Cars (We coincidentally had only 10 nominees here, so there was no first round of voting needed)
Top Ten: 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
Top Three: Bentley Flying Spur, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Range Rover Sport
The first year for this category, and look at the heavy-weights in the top ten, right? I had predicted that the very well-received S-Class would definitely make it to the top three, and it has. Its interesting to note the pattern of voting here, where luxury in the traditional sense has got high votes, as opposed to entry or compact luxury that's beginning to establish itself as a serious volumes segment.
So I'm now very excited as its clear to see that the most deserving have made it through to the top 3 in pretty much every category. Of course this is not just my view, but the results here are endorsed by a powerful 69-member jury isn't it? All eyes now on the New York Show, where the winners will be announced on April 17, 2014.
