2016 World Car Awards presented at New York International Auto Show
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By Henny Hemmes
Senior European Editor
The Auto Channel
NEW YORK, March 24, 2016. For the 10th time the World Car Awards (WCA) were presented this morning in five categories: the World Green Car, World Performance Car, World Luxury, World Design and the overall winner of the World Car of the Year award.
To the members of the Steering Committee of the WCA and the jurors, like myself, it is a surprise which cars will be honored, as KPMG, the international accounting firm collects and tabulates the jurors’ballots keeps the results under wraps and hands out the sealed envelops containing the names of the winners.
This year, the organization asked me to present the World Green Car award and indeed, until I opened the envelop containing a sheet with the name of the winning model, I really did not know which one of the three finalists was going to grab the prize.
In March, at the show in Geneva, the three finalists in each class were announced and all 15 models were on display at the WCA press conference at the New York International Auto Show, with only the three finalists for the overall award on the stage.
 Toyota's Bill Fay Accepts World Car (WCA)Green Car Of The Year Award From The Auto Channel's (and WCAJurist) Henny Hemmes |
After presentations of the WCA sponsors, Prime Research, Autoneum, Bridgestone and the Marc Scheinberg, President of the Greater NY Auto Dealers Association, Peter Lyons, Chairman of the World Car Awards could start with the presentations before I could take off with presenting Green Car Award for the Toyota Mirai fuel cell model to Bill Fay, Group Vice President and General Manager Toyota Division.
The World Design Car award went to the Mazda MX-5, the World Performance Car award was for the Audi R8 Coupe, and the award for the 2016 World Luxury Car went to the BMW 7-Series.
Finally, Peter Lyons could open the envelop to see which car had captured the grand prize. The Mazda MX-5 can wear the crown for the next 12 months of the 2016 World Car of the Year. Taken into consideration the cheers from the attending media, it is a good choice. The MX-5 offers exciting handling, excellent quality for an affordable price. The new generation of the compact sports convertible will undoubtedly attract a lot of customers world wide.
