Top Ten Finalists Announced in 2006 World Car of the Year Competition

NEW YORK - Feb. 23, 2006: The final countdown has begun! From an initial entry list of twenty-seven (27) eligible new vehicles, from all over the world, a short list of ten finalists for the inaugural World Car of the Year award was released today.

The 2006 World Car of the Year will be selected from the following finalists:

* BMW 3-Series
* Honda Civic / Civic Hybrid
* Land Rover Range Rover Sport
* Lexus IS
* Mazda MX-5
* Mercedes-Benz M-Class
* Mercedes-Benz S-Class
* Porsche Cayman S
* Suzuki Swift
* Volkswagen Passat

A jury of 46 international automotive journalists selected the finalists by secret ballot, based on their experience with all the entrants. The jury members constitute a balance of representation from Asia, Europe, North America, as well as other parts of the world.

The jury's next step is to re-evaluate the "Top Ten" vehicles, in preparation for a final round of voting in March. They will specifically rate each vehicle in terms of overall merit, value, safety, environmental responsibility, emotional appeal, and significance. The international accounting firm of KPMG will tabulate the vote results and the top three finalists will be announced on April 1, 2006.

The 2006 World Car of the Year will be declared on Thursday, April 13, 2006 during a press conference to be held at the New York International Auto Show.

Three additional groups of finalists, for World Performance Car, World Green Car, and World Car Design of the Year, will be announced by March 15, 2006, before the jurors cast their final votes. The winners of those three specialty awards will also be announced at the New York Auto Show in April.

A panel of international experts in each of the environmental and design fields has been chosen to assist the jurors by developing the short lists of finalists from the array of eligible candidates in each of those categories.

The World Car of the Year program is administered as a non-profit corporation with a Steering Committee of six journalist members who oversee and monitor the integrity of the voting process, the jury members, and the operation of program.

WCOTY is intended to complement, not compete with, existing COTY awards by raising consumer awareness of regional Car of the Year award programs as well as the World Car of the Year.

For more information about the WCOTY, please visit our web site at www.wcoty.com or e-mail or call Beth Xenarios, Executive Manager, at beth@ajac.ca, 1-905-342-2220.