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Nominations for the 2014 World Car Awards have been announced. There are five categories: World Car of the Year, World Luxury Car, World Performance Car, World Green Car and World Car Design of the Year. A panel of 69 automotive journalists selected the finalists in the first three award categories by secret ballot. Three finalists in each category will be revealed at the Geneva Motor Show on 4th March. The winners will be named on 17th April at the New York International Auto Show.

Multiple ties in the voting mean 12, rather than 10, cars are in the running for 2014 World Car of the Year. In alphabetical order the nominees are:

Audi A3
BMW 4 Series
BMW i3
Cadillac CTS
Citroen C4 Picasso
Ford Fusion/Mondeo
Infiniti Q50
Jeep Cherokee
Lexus IS
Mazda3
Peugeot 308
Skoda Octavia

This is the first year of the World Luxury Car award. Nominees split broadly into two categories: saloons and SUVs. In the former group are the Bentley Flying Spur, Maserati Ghibli and Quattroporte, and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Representing the prestige four-wheel drive vehicles are the BMW X5, Cadillac Escalade, Porsche Macan and Range Rover Sport. Two coupés are also listed, the Rolls-Royce Wraith and the petrol-electric Cadillac ELR.

The list for World Performance Car covers a variety of vehicles from hot hatchbacks such as the Ford Fiesta ST and Volkswagen Golf GTI to high-performance estate cars, represented by the Audi RS 6 Avant, and traditional supercars including the Ferrari 458 Speciale and Lamborghini Aventador roadster.

As with previous awards the Green Car and Car Design awards are selected by specialist panels. Interestingly, the BMW i3 and Volkswagen XL1 appear on both lists. Other green nominees are hybrid models from Audi, Honda and Mitsubishi. Finalists for the design award include the Citroen C4 Picasso, Mazda3 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

Anything else?

The World Car of the Year awards has been running for 10 years. Earlier this year it was announced that the award ceremony will stay in New York at least until 2018, formalising the eight-year relationship between the awards and the New York Auto Show. For more details on the awards and to see all the nominees visit www.wcoty.com.