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Eleven cars, ranging from small hatchbacks and family saloons to luxury performance machines, have made the cut as finalists for the 2007 New Zealand Car of the Year Award.
Voted for annually by more than three dozen established motoring journalists _ each of whom is a member of the New Zealand Motoring Writers' Guild _ the award is the country's most comprehensive and independent.
The voting panel includes the motoring sections of all the country's major daily and weekly newspapers, several automotive websites, the main car and lifestyle magazines, and a number of radio and TV outlets.
Over several months, the guild's car of the year committee has assembled its shortlist of finalists, which has been selected from more than 40 new models launched in New Zealand during the 12 months prior to November 1, 2007.
The 2007 shortlist consists of the Audi R8, the BMW M3, the Fiat Bravo, the new Ford Mondeo and the Honda CR-V. The latest Mazda2, Mercedes C-class and Mitsubishi Lancer have also been awarded finalist status, along with the Skoda Roomster, Subaru Impreza and Volvo C30.
The vehicle that emerges from this list to be selected early in the new year as the 19th New Zealand Car of the Year will have been tested at length by voting guild members on roads throughout the country.
Every vehicle is scored out of 100 by each voter, and the guild's winner will take the title of New Zealand Car of the Year only after the thousands of separate voting decisions have been collated and assessed.
The distributors of the winning car will be awarded the Peter Greenslade Trophy, named after the late motoring editor of The Press in Christchurch, who was one of the instigators of the car of the year award back in the late-1980s.
The current holder of the New Zealand Car of the Year Award is the Porsche Cayman. Other recent winners include the Mazda MX-5, Honda Accord Euro, Mazda 6 and the previous-generation Ford Mondeo.
