Twenty-seven cars were voted on by 46 international automotive journalists before the BMW 3-series was selected as the 2006 World Car of the Year. The award was announced at the New York International Auto Show and accepted by Tom Purvis chairman and CEO of BMW North America.
The other finalists, the Mazda MX-5 and the Porsche Cayman S, were also evaluated based on "value, safety, significance and emotional appeal," among other things, by the jurors. The BMW 3-Series is built on two continents and the cars are sold in 140 markets globally. Jurors claimed the tradeoffs between performance and practicality are "more perfectly balanced with the 3-Series than is the case with any other make." The Audi A6 was the 2005 winner.
Newly created this year were three additional specialty awards created for vehicles in performance, design, and environmental responsibility categories. The Porsche Cayman S was voted world performance car from 29 vehicles that included the Audi RS4 and BMW M5 as the other finalists. The Citroen C4 took design honors for its "stylistic originality that defined the brand's reputation in the past, without resorting to a retro look." Other finalists for design were the BMW 3-Series, and the European version of the Honda Civic, culled from an initial list of 27 vehicles. The Honda Civic Hybrid topped 21 other machines for World Green Car.-Ken Zino
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