World Car of the Year awards

Germany has continued its engineering domination of the car industry, claiming the majority of the places when the Top 10 finalists in the 2012 World Car of the Year and World Performance Car awards were announced today.

Six German cars filled the Top 10 lists for both awards, with Audi and BMW each scoring two entries in the World Car of the Year Top 10, while BMW doubled up with another two entries in the World Performance Car list. Stuttgart-based arch-rival, Mercedes-Benz, also scored two places in the World Performance Car finals through its heavy-hitting AMG arm.

With the rise of Korea and strong comebacks from Japanese carmakers like Mazda, the list of finalists carries a curious lack of Asian cars.

Instead, the World Car of the Year finals list includes Audi’s A6 and Q3, BMW’s 1- and 3-Series, Porsche’s 911, Volkswagen’s adventurous Up!, the Land Rover Evoque, the European-designed Ford Focus and the Citroen DS5.

Even if Europe’s union and currency is in the doldrums, its car industry isn’t, producing nine of the 10 finalists.

The only non-European chosen by the award’s 66 judges to be in the Top 10 is the Chevrolet Volt, and even it sees European service as the Ampera, wearing Vauxhall badges in Britain and Opel badges everywhere else in Europe.

Now in its eighth year, the World Car awards have generally been shared out between Japan and Germany, with Nissan’s all-electric Leaf (pictured) holding the 2011 crown. Its past winners have included the Volkswagen Polo in 2010, the VW Golf in 2009, the Mazda2 in 2008, the Lexus LS460 in 2007, the BMW 3-Series in 2006 and the Audi A6 in 2005.

The European domination continues with the World Performance Car finalists, where only the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which owes much of its design and engineering to its roots in Melbourne, breaking in from outside the old continent.

Otherwise, it’s headlined by a pair of astonishingly engineered supercars, in Lamborghini’s Aventador and McLaren’s MP4-12C.

Porsche’s all-new 911 is another clear contender, while AMG provided the CLS63 and the C63 Coupe Black Series. Wherever Benz goes, BMW isn’t far behind, and the M5 also made the list, while the 1-Series M Coupe provided a foil to Audi’s all-wheel drive, five-cylinder turbo-charged RS3.

In Ferrari’s case, the Prancing Horse is looking for its FF to retain the title its 458 Italia won in 2011. The World Performance Car award has also been claimed by the Audi R8 V10 (2010), the Nissan GT-R (2009), the Audi R8 (2008), the Audi RS4 (2007) and the Porsche Cayman S (2006).

The two lists will be pruned down to a Top Three, which will be announced at the Geneva Motor Show on March 6, while the outright winners will be unveiled at the New York Motor Show on April 5.

The two lists of Top 10 finalists have been collated by KPMG and Prime Research International after voting by 66 judges (including Carsales.com.au’s Michael Taylor) around the world.

2012 World Car of the Year finalists

Audi A6 sedan/ wagon
Audi Q3
BMW 1-Series
BMW 3-Series
Chevrolet Volt/Opel-Vauxhall Ampera
Citroen DS5
Ford Focus
Land Rover Evoque
Porsche 911
Volkswagen Up!

2012 World Performance Car finalists

Audi RS3 Sportback
BMW 1-Series M Coupe
BMW M5
Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Ferrari FF
Lamborghini Aventador
McLaren MP4-12C
Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG
Mercedes-Benz C63 Coupe AMG Black Series
Porsche 911

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