German and Japanese makes dominate the nominations list for the prestigious 2016 World Car Awards

The World Car Awards (WCA) organisation used the Frankfurt Motor Show as a platform to reveal the nominations of the 2016 WCA programme. 72 International motoring journalists, including Cars.co.za’s Hannes Oosthuizen, 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 three finalists in the major categories will then be revealed at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2016 before the winners are announced New York International Auto Show in April.

Overall World Car of the Year Nominations

The battle for the prestigious overall title is dominated by German and Japanese brands. Mazda and Subaru have both secured two entries.

–Audi A4/A4 Avant

–BMW X1

– Cadillac CT6

– Chevrolet Malibu

–Ford Edge

–Honda HR-V

–Hyundai Tucson/ix35

–Jaguar XE

– Kia Optima

–Land Rover Discovery Sport

–Mazda CX-3

–Mazda MX-5

–Mercedes-Benz GLC

– Nissan Maxima

– Skoda Superb

–SsangYong Tivoli

–Subaru Levorg

–Subaru Outback

–Toyota Prius

–Opel Astra

–Volkswagen Touran

World Performance Car

The Performance car category is a predominantly V8 affair, with the Audi RS3 Sportback and Honda Civic Type R bringing some hot hatchback relief.

–Audi R8

–Audi RS3 Sportback

– BMW X5 M/X6 M

– Cadillac CTS-V

– Cadillac ATS-V

– Chevrolet Camaro

–Honda Civic Type-R

–Mercedes-AMG C63 Coupe

–Range Rover Sport SVR

World Luxury Car

SUVs also deliver a strong showing in the World Luxury Car category, showing that the traditional sedan bodyshape is under fire even in a segment it used to exclusively own. A surprise entry is the new compact Infiniti, the Q30.

–Audi Q7

–Bentley Mulsanne

–BMW 7 Series

–Infiniti Q30

–Jaguar XF

–Lexus RX

–Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe

–Volvo XC90

World Design

Pickings appear to be somewhat slim in the Design category.

–Audi Q7

–Audi R8

–BMW 2 Series Convertible

–BMW 7 Series

–Hyundai Creta/ix25

–Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe

World Green

The World Green car will be selected from a varied group of nominations that includes the hydrogen fuel-cell Toyota Mirai as well as the new Prius.

– BMW 330e plug-in hybrid

– Chevrolet Volt

– Mercedes-Benz C350e

– Nissan Murano hybrid

– Nissan X-Trail hybrid

–Toyota Mirai

–Toyota Prius

–Volkswagen Passat GTE