Filed under: Detroit Auto Show, Sedans/Saloons, Trucks/Pickups, Chevrolet, GM, Saturn
GM sweeps North American Car and Truck of the Year awards
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In a fitting start to a year in which GM promises not to be bumped from the #1 spot, the Chevy Silverado and Saturn Aura have swept the 2007 North American Car and Truck of the Year awards announced this morning at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
The Chevy Silverado, hot on the heels of its victory in the Motor Trend Truck of the Year contest, beat out the Ford Edge and the Mazda CX-7 to take home the crystal. Chevrolet General Manager Ed Peper accepted the award from NACOTY Chairman Tony Swan, thanking the Silverado Team and GM Dealers, as well as both the United Auto Workers and the Canadian Auto Workers responsible for building the Silverado in five North American assembly facilities.
No to be outdone, Saturn general manager Jill Lajdziak shouted, "Yes, yes, yes!" as she quickly made her way to the stage to collect the trophy for winning the 2007 North American Car of the Year award for the new Saturn Aura. The Aura scored high marks with the 49 jurors over the Toyota Camry and Honda Fit, with many of them remarking about the significance of the Aura for General Motors and its lead in the current product revitalization within the Saturn brand.
This is a real coup for GM; and the timing couldn't have been better. Let's hope this win is enough to keep the momentum going within the hallowed halls of Warren, MI.
Check out all the debuts and galleries from the Detroit Auto Show here.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
ruggels 12:49PM (1/07/2007)
Fantastic in regards to the Saturn, the more they (and ford) can be convinced to bring their European offerings stateside the better!
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The Truth 1:01PM (1/07/2007)
GM is just somke and mirrors.
These are trailer trash cars.
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Shoaib 1:11PM (1/07/2007)
Perhaps "The Truth" is "trailer trash" considering smoke isn't spelled "somke." :D
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Ken 1:37PM (1/07/2007)
The Truth should be renamed The Troll.
Not sure is this is the same person that haunts other forums I participate in or not, but I occasionally see someone pop up using the same name and all he/she does is badmouth whatever the forum's subject of discussion is in order to get people riled up.
If you're the same person, then it is certainly you that is nothing but smoke, mirrors and BS.
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Tom 1:41PM (1/07/2007)
Any way you look at it, these "awards" historically do nothing for sales or the financial health of a car company.
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iQuack 1:55PM (1/07/2007)
Well, it IS in Detroit, so bias should be expected.
But the Aura and Silverado appear to be excellent vehicles that deserve sales success if their service records are good.
I'd still prefer a Honda or Toyota, but if shopping for a sedan, I'd give the Aura a close look--it's a very nice car, indeed!
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lavardera 2:16PM (1/07/2007)
nice to see saturn offer a decent car, sad to see a rebadge be the best we can muster
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TMAN 2:44PM (1/07/2007)
The Saturn Aura is an awesome car. I have test driven it twice and I will probably purchase come spring. I have compared it with over a dozen other cars - domestic and import. Nothing else is as appealing.
The Siverado is a great looking pickup. Much better looking than the ugly Tundra!
Congrats to GM!
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Gavin 2:54PM (1/07/2007)
Quote:'sad to see a rebadge be the best we can muster'.
The Aura is not a rebadged Euro product. The Aura is based on the lengthened platform of the Opel Vectra and that's where the similarities end. Only the Sky and upcoming Astra are Opel products.
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Jap H8r 3:42PM (1/07/2007)
Know something about trailer trash, eh Truth?
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Dave G. 3:43PM (1/07/2007)
Car and Driver wasn't very impressed with the Aura.In their latest comparision test it ranked fourth out of six tested vehicles, ranking behind the Kia Optima,Nissan Altima, and winner Honda Accord.
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DarkKnight67 3:43PM (1/07/2007)
This is good news for GM and well deserved ... of course, there's always somebody like Truth who doesn't know any better.
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quagmire 3:58PM (1/07/2007)
11, you should know that C&D is really H&D( Honda & Driver). Almost every comparison I have read they always find a way to get the Honda product to win. They're Honda fanboys. One of them is Cheap performance. They tested the Ion RC, Cobalt SS S/C, Subaru WRX, Neon SRT-4, and Acura RSX. Winner? RSX. It was neither the cheapest nor the fastest. Yet, the picked it and one of the reasons was that it could rev to 8000 RPM. Big whoop it could rev to 8000 RPM. IMHO, the Subaru WRX should of won. It was the best compromise of price and performance.
About the latest comparison of the Aura, etc. You should see how their attitude changed when they talked about the Accord. The others were professional with, " This is the good, this is the bad," to, " Accord is god. It's awesome. Blah blah blah." Pretty much went to fanboy mode. Then what lost me ultimately was that they stated that the Accord bonds with car enthusiasts. Sorry as good the Accord is, it is not a car enthusiast's vehicle. The Civic and S2000 can be, but Accord? Nope, just a simple reliable A to B appliance vehicle. And OMG, I am going to get finger prints on my car. I am going to die with finger prints on my Aura's trunk. And a no d'uh it would get the worst fuel economy. V6 vs 4 banger. Sorry, C&D has no credibility with me in their comparisons.
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mediapusher 4:14PM (1/07/2007)
Does anyone have the specifications on this car. I found out it is based on the Opel Astra, but the Aura is longer and has a Cadillac engine. It is difficult to find specs like these. Are there parts in it that are foreign based. Is it manufactured here or is it manufactured in another country, like the Cadillac Allante was?
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Gale 4:36PM (1/07/2007)
The Aura winning is an absolute JOKE, and it's further proof the "DETROIT" Auto show is afacade as an international auto show. Given the choice of the current Accord, Altima, Camry and the Aura based on driving and ownership impressions buyers will pick one of the other three 10 out of 10 times. Some UAW and Detroit homers will buy the Aura "just because." Admittedly, the Aura is Saturns best effort to date, but c'mon - that's a pretty LOW bar.
Shame on McElroy and the rest of the NAIAS homers for embarrassing the event with this choice. I do think the Silverado is a worthy winner, by the way. It's a great truck.
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quagmire 4:49PM (1/07/2007)
Ion RL* Sorry for the mistake. Don't get me wrong though. I don't think the Aura is the best car out there. Sure it has its flaws, but every car does. It does have a cheap door armrest. The bottom portion of the dash uses hard materials, but overall the interior is the best interior of any GM vehicle except Caddy's and Saab. But, it does deserve the award.
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quagmire 4:49PM (1/07/2007)
14, The Aura is based on the Vectra, not the Astra. The only thing really the Aura shares with the Vectra is front end styling and platform. Other then that, they are not similar. Aura: LWB Vectra: SWB. The Aura does have European cues( like the push foward for high beams instead of the American pull back and click it on and off) The Aura is built in Fairfax Kansas along side the Chevy Malibu.
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Alexander 5:13PM (1/07/2007)
COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That`s something amazing i think, i don`t care what everybody thing but the Saturn Aura Deserves to Win, and in fact it did. Maybe the camry and fit are better car, but the aura have something they already have, and its an effort that deserve to be awarded, and lets be honest it a beautiful and amazing car. i believe that, and i have no chance to drive it, in my country its not available.
The Chevy silverado, its a good one too, and so much better than the last generation. If you think the F-150 its better take a look at this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7vO8rEt0WY
Number 13 if you think C&D is really H&D( Honda & Driver), i think MT (Motor Trend) is really Toyo trend, in fact, i always read the issue in spanish (i`m from venezuelaÇ) and i realice that the last test they did to any GM car in the english issue, the do not printed in the spanish one, so whats your problem Toyo Trend?. I could not read, the evaluation, of the saturn Sky, Saturn aura, chevrolet silverado, Gmc sierra, and so many other,
anyway THAT`S SOMETHING GOOD GM!!!!
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Finch 5:44PM (1/07/2007)
"6. Well, it IS in Detroit, so bias should be expected."
Yeah, that's why Honda won both categories last year...
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far jr 6:13PM (1/07/2007)
nice to see saturn offer a decent car, sad to see a rebadge be the best we can muster
Posted at 2:16PM on Jan 7th 2007 by lavardera
What is sad is that people like you who like to flame GM on autoblog and likely amongst your buddies, come on here without facts. The Aura is a platform shared vehicle that has probably has less in common with a Vectra than a Toyta Camry has in common with the platform sibling Lexus ES350. The Aura platform also sits under the Saab 9-3, Chevy Malibu, and it's closest relation is the Malibu Maxx/Pntiac G-6 as far as wheelbase. All GM Epsilon based.
Given the choice of the current Accord, Altima, Camry and the Aura based on driving and ownership impressions buyers will pick one of the other three 10 out of 10 times.
Posted at 4:36PM on Jan 7th 2007 by Gale
I doubt that is true if they go look and drive similarly priced variants of all four cars. That is if they are not biased like yourself... Any regular readers on autoblog have likely noted your pro-Nissan stance in many blogs. Which is fine just make sure everyone is aware of who you are.
Mediapusher? with a name like that you cannot find platform information on the Aura? Try wikipedia for the basic GM platform sharing scheme. Astra is more along the lines of Cobalt and Ion. Astra is supposed to be imported as a separate Saturn soon. The Aura is built in Kansas, the 3.6 engine is made in Flint Michigan, and the six speed tranny in Warren Michigan I believe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_GM_platforms
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