World Car of the Year search begins

The new Mercedes-Benz S-Class and Rolls-Royce Ghost are the newest contenders for the World Car of the Year awards in 2021.

The luxury double act joins more than 50 hopefuls in a long list of contenders that includes the Land Rover Defender, Aston Martin DBX and Tesla Model Y.

The global pandemic is changing the process for the world’s biggest COTY contest, with none of the group driving assessments from previous years, but 90 judges from more than 25 countries will still be casting votes.

There are five categories in the World COTY contest, which began in 2005 when the Audi A6 took the top prize. They are the overall award, as well as trophies for performance cars, green cars, luxury cars, urban cars and overall design.

The Kia Telluride, a full-size family SUV developed for the USA and also sold in Korea and the Middle East, is the reigning WCOTY champion after beating out the Mazda3 and Mazda CX-30 for the award in 2020.

The provision list of the 2021 contenders has just been announced with 49 hopefuls but the final contenders will not be confirmed until December.

To be eligible a vehicle must be on sale in two major markets, on at least two continents, before May 1 next year. And judges must have driven a vehicle before they can score it.

The trickle-feed process of WCOTY voting begins next February with the announcement of an overall Top 10 and the Top 5 in each category, followed by the Top 3 in March and the announcement of the 2021 World COTY winner in New York on March 31.