66 of the top automotive journalists from around the globe looked in the books, did their research, drove many cars, and cast their votes so at the New York International Auto Show the winners of this year’s Car of the Year awards could be named. And the VW Groups was the most fortunate, bagging two of the most important awards.
The first, and the most important award which is indeed the World Car of the Year 2012 award, went to the Volkswagen up! For a car to be awarded with this award, it has to excel in terms of merit, value, safety, environmental impact, significance, and emotional appeal. In the case of the up! judges were mainly impressed by the car’s combination of small footprint, big interior space and innovative City Emergency Braking system.
The lovely little up! beat BMW 3 Series and Porsche 911 in the finals.
The other VW Group’s member that won a major award was indeed the new Porsche 911. It couldn’t snatch the World Car of the year award, but it was named the World Performance Car 2012, which is just as good, and even cooler.
The 991 beat mighty contenders like Lamborghini Aventador and McLaren MP4-12C. Those cars might be more exciting than the Porsche, but none of them offer such a complete package as the German sports car does. It is a super car you can literally use everyday to go to the shops in. Still, it can set your trousers on fire if you flick a couple of switches and put it in sport mode. It’s a genuinely brilliant car.
Other major winners include the Mercedes-Benz S 250 CDI BlueEfficency which was selected as World Green Car of the Year, and the Range Rover Evoque that was declared 2012 World Car Design of the Year.
