New York show: Volvo XC60 on top of the world

A JURY of motoring journalists from around the world has crowned Volvo’s XC60 luxury medium SUV the 2018 World Car of the Year.

Announced at the New York motor show overnight, the award whittled down an initial list of 34 vehicles to a shortlist of three – the XC60, Mazda CX-5 and Range Rover Velar – before a final vote gave the Swedish SUV the nod.

The trophy – the 12th in the annual awards announced in New York each year – was handed to Volvo Cars president and CEO Hakan Samuelsson who commented: “I am pleased to see our company’s product investments paying off.”

The XC60, which also won Wheels magazine’s Car of the Year award for 2017 in Australia, is the second in a string of three all-new SUVs from Volvo, sandwiched between the large XC90 and small XC40.

While the XC60 got the top gong, other cars picked up prizes. Nissan’s new second-generation all-electric Leaf – which Nissan had hoped would become the first car to win WCOTY twice – had to settle for World Green Car, while the Audi A8 was dubbed World Luxury Car.

The Range Rover Velar picked up a consolation award by winning World Car Design of the Year.

BMW’s M5 was named World Performance Car, while Volkswagen’s Polo was crowned World Urban Car.

Last year’s WCOTY was won by the Jaguar F-Pace, while the 2016 award went to Mazda’s MX-5.