At the 2024 Geneva Motor Show this week, BMW missed out on the European Car of the Year title by only a few points after trailing behind the Renault Scenic E-Tech. During the same event held in Switzerland, the World Car Awards jurors announced the three finalists for all categories. The German luxury brand has no fewer than four cars, albeit two of them are competing for the same title.
The M2 and XM will fight the Hyundai Ioniq 5 for World Performance Car while the i5 is going up against the Kia EV9 and Volvo EX30 for the World Electric Vehicle. The i5 shows up again alongside the conventionally powered 5 Series in the World Luxury Car category where the other two contenders are from Mercedes – the E-Class and EQE SUV.
Here are the three finalists for each category:
World Car of the Year
– BYD Seal / Atto 4
– Kia EV9
– Volvo EX30
World Luxury Car
– BMW 5 Series / i5
– Mercedes-Benz E-Class
– Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV
World Performance Car
– BMW M2
– BMW XM
– Hyundai Ioniq 5 N
World Electric Vehicle
– BMW i5
– Kia EV9
– Volvo EX30
World Urban Car
– BYD Dolphin
– Lexus LBX
– Volvo EX30
World Car Design of the Year
– Ford Bronco
– Ferrari Purosangue
– Toyota Prius
What’s next? The big winners decided by more than 100 journalists from 29 countries will be announced on March 27th at the 2024 New York Auto Show. It’s worth noting that a design panel of six experts was initially tasked to review all cars, and one of them was none other than Frank Stephenson. He was the man behind the original X5 (E53) as well as the first modern MINI in the BMW Group era.
Together with five other design experts, Frank Stephenson came up with a short list of recommendations for the jurors’ final vote. The initial list had a total of 70 eligible cars before the jurors decided on a short list of 10 finalists for the World Car of the Year title and five for each of the other categories. Test drives followed and points were given based on eight different parameters before deciding on three finalists for each category.
Source: BMW
