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2014 World Car Awards shortlist announced

The shortlist of finalists for the 2014 World Car Awards (WCAs) has been announced, revealing the cars that will compete for the 2014 World Car of the Year, as well as the World Luxury Car, the World Performance Car, the World Green Car and the World Car Design 2014 awards. MSN Cars’ very own Peter Burgess is amongst the 69 global motoring journalists who have whittled down the contenders in each of the categories – there are supposed to be 10 of each, but some tied results at this stage mean some of the awards have slightly more finalists this year. The next stage reduces the field down to three cars vying for each award.

Driven: Lexus GS450h

Lexus' identity is still unclear, even 20 years after it launched. Toyota's premium brand has perpetually failed to establish a clear identity of its own due mainly to a lack of consistency and detail refinement across its products. Can the new GS change these perceptions?

Maybach Coupe for sale: First Maybach Cruiserio Coupe up for grabs

Maybach Cruiserio Coupe - up For Sale We’ve run a couple of stories about a coupe version of the Maybach 57S this year, starting with the rather surprising news that a Maybach Coupe was coming - especially as it wasn’t going to be the spectacular Exelero Coupe – and culminating in the confirmation that German company Xenatec were building 100 Maybach Coupes. What I don’t think we knew at the time was that the whole Maybach Coupe plan was being funded by Saudi-based Auto Kingdom, which probably explains quite a lot. The Maybach has not been an explosive success since it launched – it’s been completely eclipsed by the far superior Rolls Royce Phantom – but its best market has probably been the Middle East, so Auto kingdom are probably pretty scure in the knowledge they can shift one or two of the Maybach Coupes on their home turf.