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 2006. 

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.

For World Green Car, those experts are, in alphabetical order:

Yasuhiko  Kawamura: Car and Driver (Japan), Motor Magazine, Car Graphic

James Kliesch, American Coalition for an Energy Efficient Economy

Dr. Ferdinand Panik, former Vice-President and Head of Fuel Cell Development, DaimlerChrysler AG

For World Car Design of the Year, they are in alphabetical order:

Silvia Baruffaldi, Auto & Design magazine

Robert Cumberford, Automobile magazine

Akira Fujimoto, Car Styling magazine.

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.

Kicking off the springtime selling season, the 2006 New York International Auto Show will feature an impressive collection of cutting-edge design and remarkable innovation.  More than four floors of displays from the world’s automakers will feature the newest vehicles and futuristic concept cars.  More than 1,000 cars and trucks will be on display at the Javits Center, filling 846,000 square feet of exhibit space.  In addition, dozens of World and North American vehicle debuts are expected at the Show.  NYIAS is owned and produced by the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association.

Important Show Dates

Press Preview                                April 12 & 13

Public Sneak Preview                      April 14

Public Show Dates                          April 14 – April 23