The CITROEN C4 CACTUS was declared the 2015 World Car Design of the Year at this year’s New York International Auto Show.
Citroen won the inaugural 2006 World Car Design of the Year with the C4 and has been a “Top Three in the World” finalist in the world design category a total of 6 times out of 10 including this year, where the C4 Cactus beat the Mercedes C-class and new Volvo XC90 to the award.
The World Car Awards are meant to highlight new vehicles with innovation and style that push established boundaries.
Candidates for the World Car Design of the Year award must be available in quantities of at-least 10 units in any major market during the period from January 1, 2014 and March 31, 2015. The cars can be pre-production or all-new production.
A design panel consisting of five highly respected world design experts was asked to first review each candidate, and then establish a short-list of recommendations for the jurors.
The experts called the Cactus "a truly innovative piece of design" with its "distinct exterior" that included slender headlamps and unique 'air bumps' to protect against parking scrapes. On the inside the car featured minimum switches with most controls shifted to a touch screen mounted on the centre console. The experts said that the Cactus design was "a proper breath of fresh air."
Previous winners of the World Car Design of the Year award were the BMW i3 (2014), the Jaguar F-Type(2013) , the Range Rover Evoque (2012), the AstonMartin Rapide (2011), the Chevrolet Camaro (2010), the Fiat 500 (2009), the Audi R8 (2008), the Audi TT (2007) and the Citroen C4 (2006).