And the nominees are

The nominations have been announced for the 18th World Car of the Year Awards, with Audi models named for final judging in five of the six categories. 

A jury of 102 judges made up of respected motoring journalists from 33 countries around the world arrived at the finalists in each category having exhaustively tested each eligible model, with Audi models making the final cut in all but one category.

The Audi Q4 e-tron has been named as one of the 10 vehicles from which the coveted title of World Car of the Year for 2022 will be judged. To be eligible for this category, vehicles must be produced in volumes of at least 10,000 units a year and must be priced below the luxury-car level in their primary markets. They must also be on sale in at least two major international car markets (China, Europe, India, Latin America, USA) on at least two separate continents within the period from January 1st, 2021 and March 30, 2022.

This year also sees the instigation of a new award class – the World Electric Vehicle of the Year – which recognises the on-going global trend towards electric mobility and ‘acknowledges the efforts of automakers around the world in developing these climate-conscious vehicles’.

In this new category, the Audi e-tron GT is a finalist, the brand’s exciting all-electric, performance grand tourer also amongst the finalists for the World Performance Car Award as well as the World Car Design of the Year Award.

The Audi Q5 Sportback is also one of the final five nominees for the World Luxury Car of the Year Award, meaning only the World Urban Car category is without an Audi representative this year.

Audi models have featured heavily in the World Car of the Year Awards since its inception, with the Audi A6 winning the inaugural World Car of the Year Award in 2005. Since then, Audi models have won both the overall award as well as individual categories on numerous ocassions, with winners including the Audi A8 and A7 Sportback in the World Luxury Car of the Year class. The Audi TT And R8 have also each been named World Car Design of the Year winners while the RS 4 Avant and R8 have each taken home the title of World Performance Car of the Year – the R8 claiming this category no less than three times.

This year, the top Three in The World will announced from the 10 overall finalists on March 15th before the final winners for each of the categories and the outright World Car of the Year will be announced on April 13th.