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Ford and GM pick up four of six finalist spots for 2010 Car and Truck of the Year Awards
PHOTO BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com Michelle Collins, U.S. Automotive Sector Leader of Deloitte LLP, announces the finalists for the 2010 North American Car and Truck of the Year Awards.
DETROIT -- The Buick Lacrosse, Ford Fusion Hybrid and the Volkswagen Golf were named finalists for the 2010 North American Car of the Year Awards. The Chevrolet Equinox, Ford Transit Connect and Subaru Outback were chosen as finalists for the Truck of the Year Awards. Four of the six finalist spots went to Ford and General Motors, which indicates that the domestic automakers have significantly increased their quality. The NACTOY awards are voted on by a panel of 49 journalists from the United States and Canada. The announcement was made at a special meeting hosted by the Automotive Press Association inside the Detroit Athletic Club. "I think it's a real good sign that Chevrolet and Ford both have finalists in the Car of the Year and the Truck of the Year," said John McElroy, host of Autoline Detroit. "It's very interesting to me to see the Transit Connect is one of the Truck of the Year finalists because it's a very new type of vehicle. We've never seen anything like it in the American market before. The Chevrolet Equinox is a big step forward over the prior model. And of course Subaru made it with the Outback and that's a terrific vehicle as well." While the winners are announced at the North American International Auto Show, auto show organizers do not give the awards or handle voting duties. The awards are designed to recognize the most outstanding new vehicles of the year. The vehicles are benchmarks in their segments based on factors including innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction and value for the dollar. Vehicle must be new or "substantially changed" to be eligible for a NACTOY award. Jurors considered more than 50 vehicles. "We're just happy to just stage it at the show," said Rod Alberts, Executive Director of the North American International Auto Show. "It's a great kickoff when they do the finalists. It was such a tough job because there was so many good ones. The designs are so great. It was tough to get it down to what they had. It's an important, unbiased award for the industry. I'm excited to have it at the show this year. It will coincide with our opening ceremony, which will kick off all of our press days." Ballots are mailed to the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche in Detroit. Jurors are given 25 points to distribute among the cars and 25 points to distribute among the trips. However, no more than 10 points may be given to a single vehicle. Nominees for the 2010 Car of the Year included the BMW 335d, Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon, Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Fusion, Ford Fusion Hybrid, Ford Taurus/Taurus SHO, Honda Insight, Kia Soul, Mazda3/MazdaSpeed3, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Porsche Panamera, Subaru Legacy, Suzuki Kizashi, Toyota Prius and the Volkswagen Golf/GTI/TDI. Nominees for the 2010 Truck of the Year included the Acrua ZDX, Audi Q5, Cadillac SRX, Chevrolet Equinox, Ford Transit Connect, Honda Accord Crosstour, Land Rover LR4, Lincoln MKT, Subaru Outback and the Volvo XC60. "It's always nice to see interest in this kind of thing," said Edward Lapham, Executive Editor of the Automotive News. "As one of the jurors of the organizing committee for the North American Car and Truck of the Year, I'm happy to see interest in it because we think it provides value and it ultimately will help car buyers and truck buyers decide what they want to buy and get them back into dealerships to do it." The winners of the 2010 NACTOY Awards will be announced on Monday, January 11 at 8 a.m. during the first day of press days for the North American International Auto Show. "It's going to be an exciting show, we actually have more brands than last year," Alberts added. "We're up to 60 this year. A lot of small companies, emerging companies, but that's what it's all about with the new alternative fuel and lithium batteries. I think people are going to find branding like the Electric Avenue we have, which is about upcoming cars and X-Prize cars that you hear about the awards going for alternative fuel and also the EcoXperience where you can actually ride and drive the cars that have no emission. So it's going to be a fun show."
PHOTO BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com The finalists were announced during a luncheon hosted by the Automotive Press Association at the Detroit Athletic Club.
PHOTO BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com Edward Lapham, Executive Editor of Automotive News, kicks off the presentation.
PHOTO BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com Edward Lapham, Executive Editor of Automotive News
PHOTO BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com "This award was patterned after originally the European Car of the Year Awards," Lapham said.
PHOTO BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com "It includes 49 jurors from various media outlets in the United States and Canada," Lapham added.
This page was last updated on Thu, December 17, 2009 11:32 PM
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