The results were unveiled today at a press conference hosted by Bridgestone Corporation. Im pleased to say that the winners were also my four choices. Its the first time Ive been in agreement, in all four categories, with my 66 fellow auto journalist jury members from around the world.
Although there are plenty of cynical naysayers on the subject of electric cars, the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt are certainly cars that look to the future. In case youre wondering the Volt did not qualify for the World Car award as it is not yet on sale in enough countries. Ironically, it will be eligible next year for the main award.
For the record the Nissan Leaf beat out the Audi A8 and BMW 5-Series among the three finalists for the World Car award – not much controversy there. The Ferrari 458 Italia trounced the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG and Porsche 911 Turbo for the Performance award – again not much debate. The Aston Martin Rapide beat the Alfa Romeo Guillietta and Ferrari 458 Italia for the Car Design award and I suspect there are some jurors who were surprised by that decision.
Likewise, the Chevrolet Volt beat the BMW 320d EfficientDynamics Edition and the Nissan Leaf and I suspect there are probably some who wonder why the Leaf did not also take this award. It is particularly good news for Chevrolet if leading auto journalists around the world see the Volt as a significantly important car, even though most of them have not yet driven it.
