Theprestigious 2017World Car Awards has kicked off with the announcement of all nominations in 5 categories at the Paris Motor Show.

The World Car Awards (WCA) organisation used the ParisMotor Show as a platform to reveal the nominations of the 2017WCA programme. 73International motoring journalists, includingCars.co.za's Hannes Oosthuizen, the only South African representative, will now have until February to evaluate as many of the vehicles as possible, before voting to determine the Top 10 in each of the World Car of The Year, World Luxury Car of the Year and World Performance Car of the Year categories. Experts will also nominate the top five in each of the World Green and World Design categories.

The top 10 finalists in the major categories will be announced in February, with the identities of the top 3 in each category to be revealed by KPMG at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2017before the winners are announced New York International Auto Show in April.

World Car of the Year

In total 22 vehicles are in the running for this prestigious, overallaward. The current World Car of the Year is the Mazda MX-5. The nominations for 2017 are;

Audi A5/S5 CoupeAudi Q2Audi Q5Buick EnvisionBuick LaCrosseChevrolet CruzeChrysler PacificaFiat/Abarth 124 SpyderHonda CivicHyundai ElantraHyundai Genesis G80Infiniti Q60Jaguar F-PACEKia CadenzaKia RioKia SportageMazda CX-9Seat AtecaSkoda KodiaqSsangYong Tivoli Air/XLVToyota C-HRVolkswagen Tiguan

World Luxury / Performance Car

The nominations in these two categories have been pooled. The current World Luxury Car of the Year is the BMW 7 Series and the reigningWorld Performance Car of the Year is the Audi R8 Coupe.

Audi R8 SpyderBentley BentaygaBMW 5 SeriesCadillac CT6Cadillac XT5Honda/Acura NSXHyundai Genesis G90Lexus LC500Lincoln ContinentalMercedes-AMG RoadsterMercedes-Benz E-ClassPorsche Boxster/CaymanRange Rover Evoque ConvertibleVolvo S90/V90

World Urban Car

In this new category, the focus falls on compact, ultra-efficient vehicles.

BMW i3 (94 Ah)Citroen C3Citroen E-MEHARIFord Ka+Smart / Brabus rangeSmart CabrioletSuzuki BalenoSuzuki Ignis

World Green Car

The current World Green Car of the Year is the Toyota Mirai (hydrogen fuel-cell car).

Audi Q7 e-tron 3.0 TDI quattroBMW 740e iPerformanceChevrolet BoltChevrolet Malibu hybridHonda Clarity Fuel-Cell CarHyundai IoniqKia Niro hybridMercedes-Benz GLC 350e plug-in hybridTesla Model XToyota Prius PrimeToyota RAV4

World Car Design of the Year

All the World Car of the Year entries automatically are also considered for this award, but an addition is the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Cabriolet. The current World Car Design of the Year is the Mazda MX-5.

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