The finalists for the 2016 World Car Awards (WCA) have been announced.

And, the contenders for the prestigious World Car of the Year include a number of exciting newcomers to the South African market, such astheimminently arriving Audi A4and Hyundai Tucson and some of the major introductions of 2015, such as the BMW X1,Jaguar XE,Land Rover Discovery Sport (recently named Best Leisure Car in the inaugural Cars.co.za Consumer Awards),Mazda CX-3 andMazda MX-5 and the Mercedes-Benz GLC.

The top contenders for the 2016World Car of the Year, World Luxury Car, World Performance Car and World Green Car were selected by ajury of 73 international motoring journalists, including Cars.co.za consumer experience manager Hannes Oosthuizen and Cars.co.za content manager Mike Fourie, who are the two South African representatives on the panel.

2016 marks the third consecutive year that the World Car Awards is the number one automotive awards programme in the world in terms of media reach. The top three finalists will be announced in Geneva on March 1 and the overall winners in New York on March 24.

The international accounting firm KPMG tabulated the jurors’ ballots. The finalists are:

The2016 World Car of the Yearwill be selected from the following 10 finalists listed in alphabetical order.

Audi A4 Sedan / Audi A4 Avant

BMW X1

Hyundai Tucson

Jaguar XE

Land Rover Discovery Sport

Mazda CX-3

Mazda MX-5

Mercedes-Benz GLC

Skoda Superb

Toyota Prius

The2016 World Luxury Carwill be chosen from one of these top five finalists:

Audi Q7

BMW 7 Series (of which the local launch is currently underway)

Jaguar XF

Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe

Volvo XC90(named Best Premium SUV in the inaugural Cars.co.za Consumer Awards)

The2016 World Performance Cartop five finalists are:

Audi R8 Coupé

Chevrolet Camaro

Honda Civic Type R

Mercedes-AMG C 63 Coupé

Range Rover Sport SVR

The2016 World Green Cartop five are:

BMW 330e Plug-in-hybrid

Chevrolet Volt

Toyota Prius (hybrid)

Toyota Mirai (hydrogen fuel cell)

Volkswagen Passat GTE

Meanwhile, adesign panel comprisingsix respected world design experts produced a short-list of recommendations for the jurors in the World Car Design of the Year category. The finalists areCadillac CT6,Mazda CX-3,Mazda MX-5,Jaguar XE andLand Rover Discovery Sport.

We will report on the announcementof the top three finalists in each of the categories of the 2016 World Car Awards (WCA) programme during the upcoming Geneva Show.