World Car of the Year 2021 contenders announced

The 2021 World Car Awards jurors have released the list of eligible vehicles, ahead of announcing the winner next March.

There are five categories in the 2021 awards, and over the coming months jurors will start to deliver their verdicts.

On 3 February, the top ten World Car of the Year finalists, and the top five in each of the  World Luxury, World Performance Car, World Urban Can and World Car Design of the Year will be revealed, ahead of the winners announcement at the New York Motor Show on 31 March.

This year, jurors will publish a series of videos showcasing each of the shortlisted cars.

The provisional shortlists for the 2021 World Car of the Year awards can be found below…

2021 World Car of the Year

• Audi A3
• BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe
• BMW 4 Series
• Citroen C4 / e-C4
• Ford Escape / Kuga
• Genesis G80
• Honda Jazz / Fit
• Honda-e
• Hyundai Elantra / Avante
• Hyundai i10 / Grand i10
• Hyundai i20
• Kia K5 / Optima
• Kia Sonet
• Kia Sorento
• Mazda MX-30
• Mercedes-Benz GLA
• Nissan Rogue / X-Trail
• Seat Leon
• Skoda Octavia
• Toyota Highlander
• Toyota Sienna
• Toyota Venza / Harrier
• Toyota Yaris / Yaris Cross
• Volkswagen ID.4

2021 World Luxury Car

• Aston Martin DBX
• BMW X6
• Genesis GV80
• Land Rover Defender
• Polestar 2
• Tesla Model Y
• Toyota Mirai
• Volvo XC40 Recharge P8 AWD

2021 World Performance Car

• Audi RS Q3
• Audi RS Q8
• BMW Alpina XB7
• BMW M2 CS
• BMW X5 M / X6 M
• Hyundai Veloster N
• Mercedes-AMG GLS 63
• Mini John Cooper Works GP
• Porsche 718 GTS 4.0
• Porsche 911 Turbo
• Toyota GR Yaris

2021 World Urban Car

• Honda Jazz / Fit
• Honda-e
• Hyundai i10 / Grand i10
• Hyundai i20
• Kia Sonet
• Toyota Yaris / Yaris Cross

2020 World Car of the Year winners

In spite of being a US-only model, the Kia Telluride impressed the World Car of the Year jury enough to walk off with the overall title for 2020.

In a double success for Kia, the new Soul EV was named Best Urban Car, beating the MINI Electric and Volkswagen T-Cross.

The Mazda 3 was named World Car Design of the Year, ahead of the Peugeot 208 and Porsche Taycan. However, the new all-electric Taycan did get two awards, winning both the World Performance Car of the Year and World Luxury Car of the Year.

Below you’ll find a full list of all the World Car of the year winners so far…

Stuart Milne