Recognised as the industry's top accolade for the world's best powertrain technology and judged by a fully independent, international panel of industry experts, the International Engine of the Year Awards are back and continue to evolve. With an ever more diverse field, the awards recognises the genuine importance that all electric and green technology plays in taking the fight to conventional internal combustion engines.

Developments from Tesla, Renault, Nissan and BMW see each marque compete in the 'Green Engine' award, a category designed to represent the best developments in eco-friendly powertrain technology. 

BMW is shortlisted twice in this category alone - for its 647cc two-cylinder electric-gasoline range extender from the i3 (banner, above) and its full-electric powertrain variant, again from the i3 - both rated at 167bhp.

With a staggering 32 engines entered into the 'New Engine' category, the scale of electric and hybrid powertrain development in the last 12-months is realised, with this clean and green technology making up over a third of all engines shortlisted.

The rise of Chinese and Indian powertrain technology is also a noticeable new addition to this year's lineup, reinforcing that increasingly technological excellence is being developed within countries generally considered to be still 'developing' within the automotive sector.

Tata from India is represented by it 624cc two-cylinder engine in the sub one-litre category while elsewhere its 1.4-litre engine from the Tata Manza is also recognised. BYD from China is represented by 998cc three-cylinder gasoline-hybrid engine in the sub one-litre category. Qoros, the Chinese-Israeli JV, also makes an awards debut with its 1.6-litre turbo engine, as found under the bonnet of the Qoros 3.

Ford last year's winning engine, the Ford 999cc three-cylinder turbo Ecoboost is shortlisted once more for International Engine of the Year.