The new Volvo XC90 has been adjudged as the Women’s World Car of the Year 2015 following the second round of voting by a panel of 19 female judges from 13 countries following the announcement of the winners of individual categories.

Commenting on the new Volvo XC90 capturing the major prize in Women’s World Car of the Year, Volvo Cars President & CEO Håkan Samuelsson, said “With the XC90, Volvo Cars begun a relaunch of its brand. This award is a testament that we have come a long way already and that we have succeeded in making the XC90 attractive for a very important audience, so we are of course both honoured and delighted.”

The judging procedure is rigorous with jury members first submitting their own short listed preferences and from there an official short list is drawn up with the top five cars in each category on the voting list. The judges then vote by awarding each car with points based on five major categories – engineering, appearance, comfort, storage and value for money. The final votes are cast by secret ballot and monitored by international accountancy company, Grant Thornton New Zealand.

The Women’s World Car of the Year is selected from the top six models (winners of each of the individual categories) and the new Volvo XC90 was adjudged the winner beating the likes of the Mercedes S-class, Mercedes AMG GT and BMW i8.

In the individual categories, the new Volvo XC90 was adjudged the winner in the SUV-Crossover category. The Renault Espace won the family car category while in the budget car category the Scion iM/Toyota Auris was adjudged the winner. The BMW i8 won the green car category while Mercedes walked away with two category wins with the S-class winning the Luxury car segment and the AMG GT winning the performance car segment.