Audi R8 dominates at World Car of the Year awards

The Audi R8 has dominated proceedings at the World Car of the Year awards picking up two of the four prizes.

The 187mph Audi R8 was named best design and best performance car at the award show’s press conference at the New York Motor Show.

Check out our slide show of the winners and runners-up

But the £77,000 supercar lost out in the overall car of the year with the Mazda 2 supermini taking the crown ahead of the Ford Mondeo and Mercedes C-Class.

The Mazda 2 has been hailed a massive success since its launch last year with the supermini picking up mountains of praise for its sleek design, great handling and fun drive, while the Ford Mondeo was the car of choice for Daniel Craig in his James Bond debut, Casino Royale.

And the BMW 118d was named best green car of the year – pipping the Smart ForTwo CDi and Volkswagen Passat 1.9 TDI BlueMotion.

The BMW 118d employs the German car maker’s environmentally-friendly ‘EfficientDynamics’ technology which uses Brake Energy Regeneration, Auto Start-Stop and Electric Power Steering to cut fuel bills and emissions.

Previous winners of the overall World Car of the Year include the Lexus LS460 in 2007 and BMW 3 Series in 2006.

It’s the second consecutive year Audi has done the design and performance double at the World Car of the Year awards with the TT and RS4 picking up the design and performance prizes respectively.

And in 2005, the Audi A6 was named overall car of the year – meaning the Inglostadt car maker is the most successful manufacturer in the history of the event.

Do you think the Mazda 2 deserves the World Car of the Year award? Have your say on the Auto Trader Blog

Results

World Car of the Year
Mazda 2

Runners up:
Ford Mondeo
Mercedes C-Class

World Performance Car
Audi R8

Runners up:
Audi S5
BMW M3

World Design of the year
Audi R8

Runners up:
Mazda 2
Volvo C30

World Green Car
BMW 118d

Runners up:
Volkswagen Passat 1.9TDI BlueMotion
Smart ForTwo cdi