Before announcing the All Galactic Car of the Millennium Awards there is the lowly presentation of the World Car of the Year. Only kidding! I needed that lead- in to make the World Car title sound less pretentious. Never the less the announcement has been made of the ten finalists for the competition, as well as the finalists for World Performance and World Green Car.

The winners of the awards - which are selected by a panel of 47 auto journalists from around the world - will be announced on March 20, 2008, at the New York auto show.

Now to the finalists -

World Car of the Year

Audi A5 Coupe / Audi S5 Coupe
Audi R8
Cadillac CTS
Ford Mondeo
Ford S-Max
Mazda2 / Mazda Demio
Mercedes-Benz C-Class
Nissan Qashqai/Dualis
Nissan Skyline Coupe/Infiniti G37 Coupe
Volvo C30

The finalists for World Performance Car

AMG Mercedes-Benz S 63
Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster
Audi R8
Audi S5 Coupe
BMW M3
Honda Civic R (Japanese & European spec)
Maserati GranTurismo
Mercedes-Benz CLK63 AMG Black Series
Renault Clio F1 Team R27
Mercedes-Benz CL 63

And the ten finalists for World Green Car:

BMW 118d with Efficient Dynamics
Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell Electric
Chevrolet Tahoe/GMC Yukon Hybrids
Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid
Lexus LS 600h L
Nissan Altima Hybrid
Saturn Aura Green Line
Saturn Vue Green Line
SmartForTwo cdi
Volkswagen Passat 1.9 TDI BlueMotion

A final round of voting will determine the winners prior to the New York auto show, which has its press days on March 19 and 20.