I'm not so sure about the candidates. The cars sold under the Civic nameplate differ quite a bit between different markets and as far as I know the Swift is not available in the U.S. at all. I wonder what the qualifications for nomination were.

Which car will win will depend altogether on how the points are given, who the journalists are and which type of magazines they represent. The winner could be almost any of those cars. If it's done the way European COTY works, my money's on the Passat.