Nissan Leaf goes for WCOTY double

NISSAN’S all-electric Leaf is in with a chance of becoming the second car to win the World Car of the Year award twice, possibly following in the wheel tracks of the Volkswagen Golf which collected the crown in 2009 and 2013.

The first-generation Leaf won the award in 2011, and now the new second-generation Leaf has been named among the 10 finalists for the 2018 award to be announced at the New York motor show on March 28.

Other finalist for the overall WCOTY title as voted by 82 motoring journalists worldwide are the Alfa Romeo Giulia, BMW X3, Kia Stinger, Land Rover Discovery, Mazda CX-5, Range Rover Velar, Toyota Camry, Volkswagen T-Roc and Volvo XC60.

While most of those models are already on sale in Australia (with the exception of the VW T-Roc SUV), the Leaf is not scheduled to arrive in Australia until late this year.

Volkswagen has won the most WCOTY awards – four – with Mazda next best with two since the awards were founded in 2005. Last year’s winner was the Jaguar F-Pace.

Apart from the main gong, WCOTY includes a number of categories – World Luxury Car, World Performance Car, World Green Car, World Urban Car and World Car Design of the Year.

The luxury finalists are the Audi A8, BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo, Lexus LS, Porsche Cayenne and Porsche Panamera, while the green car award will be selected from the BMW 530e iPerformance, Chevrolet Cruze Diesel, Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid and Nissan Leaf.

Performance finalists are the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio, Audi RS3 Sedan, BMW M5, Honda Civic Type R and Lexus LC500.

Urban award finalists are Ford Fiesta, Hyundai Kona, Nissan Micra, Suzuki Swift and Volkswagen Polo, while the design prize will go to one of the following: Citroen C3 Aircross, Lexus LC500, Range Rover Velar, Renault Alpine A110 and Volvo XC60.