Its that time of the year when the city of New York gets busy with its annual automotive event and, as always, the city played host to the current year's edition of one of the most-coveted automotive awards. Like six of the last seven years, it is a German car that walked away with the top honours and a German brand that made it big. Unlike the previous years though, it isn't Volkswagen Group that came out on top. Instead, Mercedes-Benz is the big winner in 2015, with the luxury brand taking home three titles this time around.
From an initial list of 24 new vehicles launched around the world, three finalists - Ford Mustang, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Volkswagen Passat, were shortlisted. When the final scores were tallied, the C-Class - the original 'baby' Merc, emerged victorious. Crowning it the 2015 World Car of the Year, the jurors observed, "Taking its design and technological cues from the S-Class, the C-Class employs an all-new aluminium/steel hybrid platform and updated rear-drive powertrains that delivers levels of refinement, luxury, safety, ride and handling that challenge best-in-class."
2015 World Car of the Year - Mercedes-Benz C-Class
2014 – Audi A3
2013 – Volkswagen Golf
2012 – Volkswagen Up!
2011 – Nissan Leaf
2010 – Volkswagen Polo
To acknowledge higher-priced luxury cars selling in limited numbers worldwide, a new category - World Luxury Car of the Year - was created and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class won the inaugural award last year. It's a double for Mercedes-Benz as the stunningly sleek and sexy S-Class Coupe fended off competition from the BMW i8 and the Range Rover Autobiography Black LWB to be crowned the 2015 World Luxury Car of the Year. "Mercedes-Benz design and technology are forming a marriage that is more happy than ever. There is no better car to prove it than this stunningly beautiful derivative of the S-class, available with powerful, turbocharged V-8 and V-12 engines," the jurors said on the S Coupe.
2015 World Luxury Car of the Year - Mercedes-Benz S Coupe
2014 – Mercedes-Benz S-Class
That's not all. The Mercedes-AMG GT made it a grand triple for the German luxury carmaker by winning the 2015 World Performance Car of the Year title. By doing so, Mercedes-Benz ended Porsche's winning streak that stretches back to 2012. The other two finalists in the fray for this award were the BMW M4 Coupe/M3 Sedan and the Jaguar F-Type R Coupe. As rightly summarized, "Its on-road presence alone is almost enough to qualify it as a ‘Top 3’ finalist. But in addition to its ruggedly handsome looks it has an impressive spec sheet comprising biturbo 4.0-litre V8 engine, seven speed dual-clutch transmission, 456bhp (minimum) and much, much more."
2015 World Performance Car of the Year - Mercedes-AMG GT
2014 – Porsche 911 GT3
2013 – Porsche Boxster / Cayman
2012 – Porsche 911
2011 – Ferrari 458 Italia
2010 – Audi R8 V10
For the second year in a row, BMW walked away with the World Green Car of the Year award, this time for the i8. The hybrid-electric sports car from BMW's purpose-built 'i' sub-brand takes over from its stablemate i3, which won the award in 2014. Undoubtedly impressed with the i8's green credentials, the jurors and specially-appointed green experts opined, "The BMW i8 gasoline hybrid looks so cool, it should be the icon for all “Green” cars. So it inspires Green Passion, which on paper looks like 155 mph on the i8's three cylinder turbo gasoline engine, four-wheel-drive and four seats. The i8 adds so much enjoyment to a sensible lifestyle that it needs to be recognized as a great Green Car." The two other finalists were the Mercedes-Benz S 500 Plug-In Hybrid and the Volkswagen Golf GTE.
2015 World Green Car of the Year - BMW i8
2014 – BMW i3
2013 – Tesla Model S
2012 – Mercedes-Benz S250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY
2011 – Chevrolet Volt
2010 – Volkswagen BlueMotion Cars
Rounding off the list of award winners is the Citroen C4 Cactus that was adjudged the 2015 World Car Design of the Year. Known for its appealing and futuristic designs, Citroen has already won this award in 2006 for the C4 and has been nominated as one of the three finalists six times in the last ten years. The Cactus is a one-of-a-kind car, to put it simply, a fact that would have helped it overcome stiff competition from the other two finalists - the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Volvo's XC90.
2015 World Car Design of the Year – Citroen C4 Cactus
2014 – BMW i3
2013 – Jaguar F-Type
2012 – Land Rover Range Rover Evoque
2011 – Aston Martin Rapide
2010 – Chevrolet Camaro
Currently in its eleventh year, the World Car Awards (WCA) is not just another award program. Judged by a panel of 75 prominent automotive journalists from around the world, the World Car Awards is designed to recognize the best in the industry on a global scale. Along with the announcement, trophies were handed over to the 2015 award winners at a gala event in New York.
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