The awardees of the 2016 world Car of the Year were announced during the 2016 New York Motor Show. The world car of the year for 2016 is the Mazda MX-5 which incidentally has also picked up top honours for world car design of the year.
The awards, which have been handed out since 2003, saw 73 journalists across 23 countries choose cars for top honours across five categories. These include world performance car of the year, design of the year, green car of the year, car, luxury car of the year (since 2014) and finally world car of the year. To be eligible for this year’s awards, the cars should have been on sale in at least two continents during the period beginning January 1, 2015 and ending May 31, 2016.
Firstly, the 2016 world car of the year is the Mazda MX-5. It beat out the Audi A4 as well as the India-bound Mercedes-Benz GLC to take the top honours. The MX-5 took home the top prize for world car design of the year. It beat out the Jaguar XE and Mazda CX-3 for this honour.
The prize for world performance car of the year was picked up 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.
The world luxury car of the year was given to the new BMW 7 Series. It beat out the Audi Q7 and Volvo X90 to take the premiere prize. The 7 Series’ victory 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.
