What Car? Car of the Year Awards 2015 - The Long List

What Car? has announced the nominees for the industry’s most prestigious awards ceremony, the Car of the Year Awards 2015. 

The annual What Car? Awards - held in association with Warranty Direct - are the most sought-after prizes for both manufacturers and the car-buying public. What Car? experts ensure that only the cars that deliver exceptionally against stringent criteria are shortlisted, while the Reader Award is a valuable indication of sentiment towards cars being brought to market in the next 12 months.

Five British-built Land Rover vehicles have received nominations across four categories; Small SUV (Land Rover Evoque), Large SUV (Land Rover Discovery Sport, Range Rover Sport), Luxury Car (Range Rover) and also the Reader Award (Range Rover Evoque Cabrio).

Meanwhile Jaguar, which builds the F-type Coupe (Coupe Award) and Jaguar XF (Reader Award) in the UK, has also received nominations across two categories. The highest number of nominations are jointly between Audi and Volkswagen with 10 each, while BMW is close behind with nine.

What Car? editor Jim Holder said: 'It is an exciting time of the year releasing the challengers for the What Car? Car of the Year Awards. The build-up really starts now.

'Our panel of experts has a job on its hands to choose the best car in each category and then the overall What Car? Car of the Year for 2015, which has to be exceptional.

'A welcome fact about our list of contenders is that one in eight of them are built right here in the UK – a reality the manufacturing sector should be very proud of.'

Considered the ultimate prize for car makers, awards are only given to the cars that set the highest standards in their class and only the best of the best is named What Car? Car of the Year; last year, the Sunderland-built Nissan Qashqai claimed the top accolade.

The overall winner will be announced on January 7, 2015.

The full list of nominees is below. 

What Car? Awards 2015 Long List

City Car (sponsored by Warranty Direct)
Hyundai i10 
Renault Twingo 
Seat Mii
Skoda Citigo 
Smart Forfour
Smart Fortwo
Volkswagen Up

Small car
Dacia Sandero
Ford Fiesta
Hyundai i20
Mazda 2
Mini 5dr – British built
Skoda Fabia
Vauxhall Corsa
Volkswagen Polo

Family car (sponsored by Reevoo)
Audi A3 Sportback
Ford Focus
Ford Mondeo
Kia Cee’d
Nissan Pulsar
Skoda Octavia

Electric car (sponsored by Hankook)
Audi A3 e-tron
BMW i8
Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV
Renault Zoe Expression
Tesla Model S
VW e-Golf
VW Golf GTE

Coupe
Audi TT
BMW 2 Series
Jaguar F-type Coupe – British built
Mercedes S-Class Coupe
Peugeot RCZ R
Seat Leon SC
Volkswagen Scirocco

Estate car
Audi A6 Avant
BMW 5 Series Touring
Ford Mondeo Estate
Kia Cee'd Sportswagon
Volkswagen Golf Estate
Volkswagen Passat Estate

MPV
BMW 2 Series Active Tourer
Citroen C3 Picasso
Citroen Grand C4 Picasso
Fiat 500L MPW
Seat Alhambra
Volkswagen Golf SV

Hot hatch
BMW M135i
Ford Fiesta ST
Suzuki Swift Sport
Volkswagen Golf GTI
Volkswagen Polo GTI

Convertible
Audi A3 Cabriolet
Citroen DS3 Cabriolet
Fiat 500C
Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet
Mercedes SL
Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet

Small SUV
Audi Q3
Citroen C4 Cactus
Kia Soul
Land Rover Evoque - – British built
Nissan Qashqai -– British built
Renault Captur

Large SUV
BMW X3
Land Rover Discovery Sport – British built
Lexus NX
Mazda CX-5
Nissan X-Trail
Porsche Cayenne
Porsche Macan
Range Rover Sport -– British built
Volvo XC90

Executive car (sponsored by Allianz Global Assistance)
Audi A3 Saloon
Audi A6
Audi A7 Sportback
BMW 3 Series
BMW 5 Series
Mercedes CLS
Porsche Panamera
Volkswagen Passat

Sports car
BMW M3
Ferrari 458 Speciale
Lamborghini Huracan
Porsche 911 Carrera
Porsche 911 GT3
Porsche Boxster
Porsche Cayman GTS
McLaren 650S Spider -– British built
Mercedes AMG GT

Luxury car
Bentley Flying Spur – British built
Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Land Rover Range Rover – British built
Rolls-Royce Ghost II – British built
Rolls-Royce Phantom -– British built

Reader Award (sponsored by HPI)
Audi A4
Bentley SUV
Fiat 500X
Ford S-Max
Honda HR-V
Jaguar XF-– British built
Kia Sorento
Mazda MX-5
Mercedes MLC
Nissan Murano
Range Rover Evoque cabrio - – British built
Skoda Superb
Suzuki Vitara
Toyota FCV
Vauxhall Viva
Volvo XC90

Click here for your chance to vote in the Reader Awards 2015