This coming April Fools’ Day, we will learn the names of the big winners of the 2026 World Car Awards, announced annually at the New York Auto Show. But that’s for another day. Today, we learned the identities of the three finalists in each of the six categories.
Explained the World Car Awards organization, “Finalists were selected by a jury of 98 automotive journalists from 33 countries, voting by secret ballot based on extensive real-world evaluation conducted as part of their professional work.”
This comes roughly two months after the first announcement of finalists chosen by that 98-strong group of jurists, though those were different finalists, more like pre-finalists.
The initial list of eligible vehicles for the biggest award of them all, the actual World Car of the Year, was 58-strong. Eligibility, for the organization, means the following: “Vehicles eligible for World Car of the Year must be produced in volumes of at least 10,000 units/year, must be priced below the luxury-car level in their primary markets, and must be “on-sale” in at least two major markets (China, Europe, India, Japan, Korea, Latin America, USA) on at least two separate continents within the period January 1, 2025 and March 30, 2026.”
The eligibility criteria for the other awards vary somewhat, but they’re all equally specific. In any event, enough of the small print. Here are the finalists for the 2026 awards:
2026 World Car of the Year
• BMW iX3
• Hyundai Palisade
• Nissan LEAF
2026 World Luxury Car of the Year
• Cadillac Vistiq
• Lucid Gravity
• Volvo ES90
2026 World Performance Car of the Year
• BMW M2 CS
• Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray
• Hyundai Ioniq 6 N
2026 World Electric Car of the Year
• BMW iX3
• Mercedes-Benz CLA
• Nissan LEAF
2026 World Urban Car of the Year
• Baojun Yep Plus / Chevrolet Spark EUV
• Firefly
• Hyundai Venue
2026 World Car Design of the Year of the Year
• Kia PV5
• Mazda 6e / EZ-6
• Volvo ES90
Auto123 will be in New York for the announcement of the big winners in each of the six categories, including that of the big, BIG winner, that of the actual 2026 World Car of the Year.
And in case you've forgotten or didn't know, here are the 2025 big winners:
World Car of the Year: Kia EV3
World Electric Vehicle: Hyundai Inster / Casper Electric
World Luxury Car: Volvo EX90
World Performance Car: Porsche 911 Carrera GTS
World Urban Car: BYD Seagull / Dolphin Mini
World Car Design of the Year: Volkswagen ID. Buzz