Autoblog

The World Car of the Year Awards has just concluded with the Lexus LS460 earning the honor of being called the planet's best auto for 2007. The LS460 beat out the Audi TT and new MINI Cooper, which were also finalists. The Audi TT, however, did not walk away empty handed, earning a trophy for World Car Design of the Year. Audi earned yet another honor for World Performance Car of the Year, with the RS4 being handed that honor. The RS4 won out over such heavyweights in world performance as the BMW 335i and Porsche 911 Turbo. Finally, the Mercedes-Benz E320 BLUETEC won the award for World Green Car of the Year, earning bragging rights over rival BMW and its Hydrogen 7, as well as the Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion.

At the New York Auto Show in early April we'll find out which auto has won the coveted World Car of the Year award. We do know, however, it will be either the Audi TT, Lexus LS 460 or new MINI Cooper. The three finalists were recently culled from the list of semi-finalists we brought you back in January. Those ten cars have been pared down to these three, and on April 5th only one will remain.

The Germans (and German-owned) were not only well represented in the list of finalists for World Car of the Year, but also in three other categories for which awards will be given. The finalists for World Performance Car are the Audi RS4, BMW 335i and Porsche 911 Turbo (all German brands). The finalists for 2007 World Green Car are the BMW Hydrogen 7, Mercedes-Benz E320 BLUETEC and Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion (again, all German brands). Lastly, the finalists for the World Car Design of the Year are the Audi TT, Citroen C4 Picasso and Fiat Grande Punto (only one German brand this time, but still). Clearly, German or German-owned brands are the odds on favorite for flying home with some trophy metal.

[Source: WCOTY.com via Winding Road]