World Car of the Year Title Awarded to VW Golf -- Bound for U.S. in Fall

A jury of 59 international automotive journalists has named the all-new Volkswagen Golf the world's best new car. At the New York Auto Show this morning, the World Car of the Year award was given to Volkswagen's latest hatchback. The sixth version of the Golf has not yet reached U.S. shores, but will arrive in late fall as a 2010 model, replacing the outgoing Rabbit in VW's lineup.

In a press release, the World Car Awards organization explains, "The Volkswagen Golf VI was chosen from an initial entry list of fifty-one (51) entries nominated by fifty-nine (59) World Car jurors from twenty-five (25) countries throughout the world." The jury found that the Golf "feels more expensive than other family hatches, thanks to its solid build and high quality cabin. Customers get a choice of nothing less than six engines including the punchy and efficient 158hp 1.4-litre TSI unit that features both a turbo and supercharger."

The Golf beat out the Toyota iQ and Ford Fiesta for the award - both of which are also bound for U.S. shores in the next few years.

Several other awards were given out alongside the overall title. Autoblog reports, "Among the top performance cars, the Nissan GT-R beat out rivals like the Corvette ZR1 and Porsche 911. The top design was between the Citroen C5, Fiat 500 and the Jaguar XF with the 500 taking the beauty contest honors"

If you're in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year's best cars as well as this month's best car deals.