The World Car Awards nominations have been announced.

The journey on The Road to the World Car continues with today’s announcement of the finalists in all five award categories.

This release kicks off the countdown for the 2015 World Car Awards (the WCAs) prize-giving ceremony to be hosted by the New York International Auto Show (NYIAS), Bridgestone Corporation and Autoneum on Thursday, April 2, 2015. Winners of the 2015 World Car of the Year, World Luxury Car, World Performance Car, World Green Car and World Car Design of the Year will all be declared at this time.

A jury of 75 distinguished international automotive journalists selected the following finalists in the World Car of the Year, World Luxury Car and World Performance Car categories by secret ballot, based on their experience with each candidate as part of their professional work. For more details about our jurors, and their outlets please visit our web site: www.wcoty.com and click < Jurors.

The international accounting firm KPMG tabulated the jurors’ ballots and announced the finalists on the evening of February 9.   

The 2015 World Car of the Year (WCOTY) will be selected from the following ten finalists listed in alphabetical order:

• BMW 2 Series Active Tourer                  
• Citroën C4 Cactus
• Ford Mustang
• Hyundai Genesis
• Jeep Renegade
• Mazda2
• Mercedes-Benz C-Class
• MINI 5 door / MINI 4 door
• Nissan Qashqai
• Volkswagen Passat

The 2015 World Luxury Car will be chosen from one of these top ten finalists:

• BMW i8
• BMW X6
• Cadillac ATS Coupe
• Cadillac Escalade / ESV
• Kia K900
• Lexus NX
• Lexus RC
• Lincoln MKC
• Mercedes-Benz S Coupe
• Range Rover Autobiography Black LWB

The 2015 World Performance Car top ten finalists are:

• Audi S1
• Audi S3
• Audi TT / TTS
• Bentley Continental GT Speed
• BMW M4 Coupe / M3 Sedan
• Corvette Z06
• Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat
• Jaguar F-TYPE R Coupe
• Lexus RC-F
• Mercedes-Benz AMG GT

The 2015 World Green Car category is handled differently. Five experts in “green” technology were appointed by the World Car Awards Steering Committee to extensively review all documentation and specs associated with each candidate on the list of nominees.  The experts then create a short-list of finalists for review by the 75 jurors in their second round of voting this month. 

The finalists for 2015 are:

• BMW i8
• Hyundai x35 / Tucson Fuel Cell
• Kia Soul EV
• Volvo XC90 T8 Twin Engine
• Volkswagen Golf GTE

The five experts on the advisory panel are in alphabetical order: Phil Berg (USA - PopularMechanics.com); Richard Bremner (UK - Autocar magazine), Claus-Peter Koeth (Germany - automobil-industrie.de); Yumi Kawabata (Japan - environmental journalist) and John Voelcker (USA - GreenCarReports.com).

Cars eligible for the 2015 World Car Design of the Year award are taken from the list of World Car candidates or may be included as a stand-alone entry provided the vehicle is available in quantities of at least 10 in one major market during the period beginning January 1, 2014 and ending May 31, 2015.  Candidates may be pre-production or all-new production.

Again, a design panel consisting of five highly respected world design experts was asked to first review each candidate, then establish a short-list of recommendations for the jurors. The design experts are: Masatsugu Arimoto (Japan – Freelance design journalist); Silvia Baruffaldi (Italy – Auto & Design magazine); Gernot Bracht (Germany – Pforzheim Design School); Sam Livingstone (UK - Car Design Research and Royal College of Art) and Tom Matano (USA - School of Industrial Design at Academy of Art University in San Francisco).

The five finalists chosen for the jurors are:

• BMW 2 Series Active Tourer
• Citroën C4 Cactus
• Mercedes-Benz C-Class
• Porsche Macan
• Volvo XC90

The Road to the World Car began in Paris on October 2, followed by a stop in Los Angeles for a test-drive of the North American contenders in November, and continues with the finalists’ announcement. The next stop is at the Geneva International Auto Show on Tuesday, March 3 when the top three finalists in all categories will be announced.   The journey ends at the New York International Auto Show on Thursday, April 2^nd, 2015 when all winners are declared.

USA recall number tops 60.5 MILLION, yes thats right 60,500,000 and still rising for the year.

U.S. automobile recalls surpassed the 60 million mark for the first time in a single year, largely because of the rush to prevent more deaths from defective General Motors ignition switches and Takata Corp. airbags.

The tally of 60.5 million through today is almost double the previous annual record of 30.8 million recalled vehicles set in 2004, according to an analysis of data on the website of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The number will rise further as recent recalls that have been announced by automakers are recorded in the database.

“I don’t think we’re going to see a year like this for a long time,” said Neil Steinkamp, a managing director at Stout Risius Ross who studies warranty and recall issues.

Recalls may remain above historical levels for a while, he said. The Takata airbag crisis continues to grow, and following its slow response to GM’s ignition-switch defect, NHTSA has been pressuring automakers to recall cars more quickly when evidence of a flaw is discovered, using subpoena power and the threat of $35 million fines as motivation.

“Automakers do not want to be accused of dragging their feet, so they’re very quick to issue a recall” now, said Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst at Autotrader.com. “We’re going to see lots of recalls because cars have gotten so complex and there’s so much sharing of parts by all automakers.”

The flood of recalls hasn’t deterred buyers this year. Light-vehicle sales in the U.S. rose 5.5 percent to 15 million vehicles through November, according to the Automotive News Data Center, and are heading for their biggest total since 2006.

GM, Honda 

GM alone has recalled almost 27 million cars and trucks in the U.S. this year, a record for any single automaker. The company has issued 10 safety actions of more than 1 million vehicles each, according to the NHTSA database. Defective GM ignition switches in small cars have been linked to at least 42 deaths and 58 injuries.

Honda Motor Co., the third-largest Japanese automaker, has recalled 5.4 million vehicles to replace Takata airbags. Exploding Takata airbags have been tied to at least four fatalities in the U.S. and more than 100 injuries caused by shrapnel.

Other recalls of more than 1 million vehicles this year included those related to steering, cruise control, engines and seat belts, according to the NHTSA data, which is compiled from automaker filings to the agency. NHTSA plans to release its official recall numbers for 2014 next year.

The Takata airbag flaw investigation led to the recall of more than 8 million vehicles. Unstable propellant in airbag inflators can cause the devices to explode with too much force and spread shrapnel through the car in a crash. Takata on Nov. 6 widened an annual loss forecast and said it can’t estimate the full financial liability of the defect.

Fiat Chrysler 

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said Dec. 19 that it would accede to a NHTSA request and expand an existing airbag recall from hot, humid areas of the U.S., where most failures have occurred, to the entire nation. That will add 2.89 million vehicles to the recall total for the U.S. when reflected in the government database.

GM has said its ignition-switch recalls have cost about $2.7 billion through the first three quarters of this year. GM has said the switches, which it knew were defective for more than a decade, can shut off when bumped, disabling the vehicle air bag and increasing the risk of death or injury in a crash.

With the focus on more and quicker recalls, 2014 will probably signify a period of elevated safety fixes, Steinkamp said. The average number of recalled vehicles per year from the 2004 through last year was 16.1 million, according to NHTSA data.

“It’s a landmark year; it’s the start of a new era,” he said.

REPORT HERE