Porsche 911 Turbo wins 2021 World Performance Car award

Porsche has won the 2021 World Performance Car award as part of the annual World Car Awards that recognise automotive excellence.

The awards are judged by a panel made up of dozens of automotive journalists from around the world, with this year’s entrants assessed by 93 journalists from 28 countries, including Australia.

First held in 2005, the World Car Awards were expanded the following year to add Car Design, Green Car and Performance Car subcategories, with Luxury Car and Urban Car categories added in 2014 and 2017, respectively.

While Porsche has yet to take out the overall World Car of the Year title, they have dominated the World Performance Car category, with the Cayman S, 911/991, 911 GT3, Boxster Cayman and Taycan amongst the previous winners.

To prevent one-off hypercars and low-volume exotics dominating the category, World Performance Car entrants must meet certain criteria, like annual production of at least 2,000 units and availability in at least two major markets on different continents to be eligible. As such, something like a Ford Mustang GT or Toyota 86 would be eligible for the category, but a Bugatti Veyron and most Ferraris aren’t.

In this year’s awards, the latest 911 Turbo took the World Performance Car honours, marking Porsche’s seventh win in the category.

An initial field of nine cars was trimmed down to three for the final, with Porsche up against the Audi RS Q8 SUV and Toyota’s rally-inspired GR Yaris.

Using a judging criteria that included performance, value, safety, environmental impact and some less tangible measures, like emotional appeal, innovation and market significance, the 911 Turbo was judged to be the best of the three. Ahead in performance (unsurprisingly), Porsche also excelled in most other criteria, except value. The final points tally of 822 eclipsed 792 points for the Audi RS Q8 and 773 for the Toyota GR Yaris.

We could not be more excited to accept this award, which represents the eighth instance of Porsche winning a World Car Awards title,” said Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser, Vice President Model Line 911 and 718. (the Taycan won the Performance and Luxury categories last year)

“The 911 Turbo S is the peak of performance and luxury from Porsche, a fact this recognition underscores. With the new generation 992, we continue to push the boundaries.”