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2010 North American COTY award winners announced at Detroit

By Matt Brogan |

Ford has scooped a double victory at this year’s North American Car of the Year (COTY) and Truck of the Year (TOTY) awards with its Ford Fusion Hybrid and Ford Transit Connect models each taking home the winning prize in their respective categories.

It was only the third time in 17 years that one manufacturer has won both awards. Honda won both awards in 2006 and General Motors won both in 2007.

A jury of 49 veteran automotive journalists from the United States and Canada, who represent magazines, television, radio, newspapers and web sites, selected the two Ford models from an outstanding line-up of vehicles that included the Volkswagen Golf GTI and Buick LaCrosse in the car category, and Chevrolet Equinox and Subaru Outback in the ‘truck’ category. The winners were kept secret until today at a news conference at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

The awards are designed to recognise the most outstanding vehicles of the year based on factors that include innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction and value for the dollar.

To be eligible, vehicles must be “all-new” or “substantially changed” from the previous model. This year the jury considered more than 50 vehicles and finally focused on 16 cars and 10 trucks (see below).

Car finalists:

  1. Ford Fusion Hybrid (241 points)
  2. Volkswagen Golf TDI/GTI (tied on 146 points)
  3. Buick LaCrosse (103 points)

Truck finalists:

  1. Ford Transit Connect (213 points)
  2. Chevrolet Equinox (183 points)
  3. Subaru Outback (94 points)

2010 North American COTY nominees:

  • 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
  • Volkswagen Golf/GTI/TDI

2010 North American TOTY nominees:

  • Acura ZDX
  • Audi Q5
  • Cadillac SRX
  • Chevrolet Equinox
  • Ford Transit Connect
  • Honda Accord Crosstour
  • Land Rover LR4
  • Lincoln MKT
  • Subaru Outback
  • Volvo XC60

 
  • Mitch

    Americans really need to learn what a truck really is.

    • IronOreBananabender

      Riiiiight, pretty boy Utes really top the Ford F350 for being a “real truck”. Please, real work is done using Toyotas in Australia. The Australian Ute is just a consolation prize for not getting muscle car coupes like the Mustang, the small Aussie market requires the local product to be for the least common denominator.

    • Cupid Stunt

      Quite agree, since when has an outback been a truck, unless of course it’s another version.

  • Michael

    It just goes to show that ford is currently producing excellent vehicles the world over despite what the nay sayers say…

  • Safety First

    Sorry for putting a negative into the above story, but could you please show a picture of the vehicle that won the truck of the year?????

    The reason I’m so pedantic about showing the right vehicle is that it does show the anti Ford lobby that Ford has responded to the market and is producing “Responsible” vehicles.

    Cheers

    • http://www.caradvice.com.au Matt Brogan

      Apologies SF, I uploaded the wrong pic. Need that morning coffee!

      • Safety First

        No drama’s, you can get rid of the response below too because that was only to the deleted post before it ;-)

  • Dennis

    Well Ford, GM, VW and Subaru… Congrats Toyota :)

  • David

    A Buick LaCrosse beats out the BMW 335d?…Never in a million years.

  • Dennis

    Buick in Top Spec starts at $33k USD. Basic 335d starts at $43kUSD. The Buick is AWD as well.

  • http://www.greencollareconomy.com Casey Verdant

    Detroit has a chance to show the world that they’re listening to the cries for greater fuel efficiency! The Ford Fusion Hybrid, the Electric Fiat 500, the Toyota FT-CH, and the Honda CR-Z hybrid are all great eco-friendly cars: let’s hope for more like them as the Auto Show continues.

    If you are interested in hybrids, fuel cells, or any other green technologies, check out http://www.greencollareconomy.com. It has hundreds of case studies on emerging green tech and the largest b2b green directory on the web.