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Though four out of the six finalists for the North American Car and Truck of the Year Awards were GM vehicles, only the new 2008 Chevy Malibu managed to earn the honor of 2008 North American Car of the Year. On the truck side of things, the Buick Enclave and Chevy Tahoe Hybrid lost out to the Mazda CX-9.
The Malibu was competing for North American COTY honors against the new Honda Accord and 2008 Cadillac CTS. The judges use a point system to determine the winner, and the Malibu achieved the most among the cars at 190, with the CTS fairly close behind at 165 and the Honda firmly in third with 95.
The Mazda CX-9, meanwhile, blew out its truck competitors with 201 points. Surprisingly, the Chevy Tahoe 2-mode Hybrid came in second with 140 and the Buick Enclave, which we believed (and you, too) had a chance to win, only managed 109 points.
What say peanut gallery? Is the Malibu a better choice for this year's honor than the CTS. Was the Accord snubbed? And what happened to the Enclave in this competition?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
carguy @ Jan 13th 2008 10:11AM
Who cares? These auto awards are totally irrelevant. The only awards that count are sales numbers.
AlexP @ Jan 13th 2008 10:41AM
And these awards positively augment product awareness, which usually turns into sales.
DDL @ Jan 13th 2008 2:23PM
Usually, would be the opperative word relative to last year's winner, the Aura.
Dan @ Jan 13th 2008 2:17PM
That's not a fair statement to say. It is possible to not be number one in sales and come out with a better car than the others. Use a little common sense!
AlexP @ Jan 13th 2008 7:26PM
Saturn was never a mainstream brand and it had crap products in the past, what the hell were you expecting? The car to bust the Camry's ass in terms of sales?
Avinash machado @ Jan 13th 2008 10:14AM
Glad to see GM making good cars like the Malibu and CTS. Hope they will be back to the number one position soon.
digitalzombie @ Jan 13th 2008 10:24AM
Wow, 2 cars that I don't give a damn about won. Says a lot bout the award (maybe it's me?)...
MemphisNET @ Jan 13th 2008 12:38PM
What would you like to have seen? The vehicles that win are more than just looks and power/performance.
There's alot more people buying Malibu-type cars than M3's.
digitalzombie @ Jan 13th 2008 1:54PM
I guess maybe honda accord over Malibu? Or infiniti fx? lol M3s? No I rather see GTR than M3s. Maybe an old NSX or the new altima coupe or reg altima.
Richard @ Jan 13th 2008 2:16PM
Maybe it time to check them out. I did with the Malibu and glad I did. I've owned many luxury cars and to me the Malibu is of equal to them.
Seminole @ Jan 13th 2008 10:36AM
While I think most people would say the CTS should have won over the Malibu, I think the Malibu has more of an effect on the industry. The Malibu is a bread and butter sedan for Chevy, and even though the CTS was a huge leap forward, so was the Malibu. The fact the Malibu will out-sell the CTS by a huge margin means it wins based on influence.
I think the CX-9 was the right choice for SUV, IMO it's better than the Enclave.
Derek @ Jan 13th 2008 10:44AM
The Malibu is a given (and we just bought one and LOVE it, so the more awards, the better).
The CX-9 still stumps me a tad. It's a great vehicle, no doubt, but certainly didn't set the crossover market on fire as something like the Enclave did. Matter of fact, it rarely gets talked about as having the same kind of "wow factor" the Buick always seems to have. And though it's liked for being a bit trimmer and sportier than the typical 7-passenger, it also gets critiqued for not being truly comfortable for all those people and their stuff and even going a bit too far with the sport nature.
I'm not saying it shouldn't win, it just makes me wonder how--just counting the 2--every reviewer known to man seems to gush profusely over the Enclave when they test one and it's sales numbers are still on fire, while the CX-9 is nicely regarded but rarely stands far out according to anyone and is just a "really nice Mazda". And it's now winning, but strangely in it's 2nd year.
Same with the Motor Trend SUV of the year. Interesting to see what anyone else thinks in that regard...
Jimbo @ Jan 13th 2008 11:24AM
The CX-9 went on sale after Jan 1, 2007 as a 2008 model, so it wasn't eligible for the 2007 awards. The same rules applied with the MotorTrend award. Technically, the CX-9 is still in its first model year since all the sales last year were counted towards the 2008 model year. Granted, that's a bit like splitting hairs to count a vehicle that goes on sale on Jan 2 as part of the next model year, but I suppose a line has to be drawn somewhere.
Tom @ Jan 13th 2008 2:23PM
The Enclave didn't win because they didn't want to give all the awards to GM. They don't want the others to think they are bias, although I think the Enclave should have won.
Avinash machado @ Jan 13th 2008 10:57AM
Off-topic. What happened to the section titled latest comments to posts or something that used to be on the right hand side of the sreen just below the section titled Most Commented On (7 days)?
KCurtis @ Jan 13th 2008 11:10AM
{ This is so biased, the Malibu only won because it's an American car. The auto journalists are so biased against Japanese cars. I don't care what it says, it doesn't influence my car buying decision. How can anyone take this seriously!??! }
-- The complete opposite would have been said if a Japanese car won. lol. Sorry just had to. ;)
Anyway, I am not a Chevy Guy by any means of the phrase, but they did an excellent job on that ride. Way to go GM, and congrats.
Good to see the CX-9 win, I am a fan of that ride, although I prefer the CX-7.
J.Crew @ Jan 13th 2008 11:27AM
The Malibu is well deserved as it has raised the bar in the mid-size class aginast the highest volume car - the Toyota Camry. Every test I see lately - here is the order of the test results - 1. Honda Accord 2. Chevy Malibu 3. Nissan Altima 4. Toyota Camry. The Accord is a great car as it always has been so there is no big surprise it was in the running for car of the year. The Malibu was a joke before this new model and for it to be beating the number one car by volume repeatedly in comparison tests is a testement to its inherent new found qualities. Good job GM!
The CX-9, well, good job Mazda! It is a very nice vehicle and there is no strong arguement against it, but I don't see anyone jumping up and down for one either. My votw was on the Tahoe Hybrid based on the fuel economy improvements it brings to the table while not losing its functionality as a truck.
Artie43 @ Jan 13th 2008 3:14PM
YOu need to read the MT Reviews of these models in the February edition. Camry SEV6 beat them all.
quagmire @ Jan 13th 2008 12:14PM
So the Aura won it twice in a row. But, surprised the CX-9 beat the Tahoe Hybrid. Sorry, 20 MPG city in a 5500 lb SUV is more important then a sporty design......
Chris Vitale @ Jan 13th 2008 12:18PM
Damn straight!