Autoblog

The 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit is looming ever closer, which means the process to choose the 2009 North American Car and Truck of the Year has begun. The organization behind the very prestigious awards has trotted out the list of semi-finalists for both awards, which includes 26 vehicles total with 14 contenders for COTY and 12 for TOTY.

The defining line between each category has been muddled this year by a bunch of crossovers that could be considered either car or truck, though most were placed in the Truck category except for the new Toyota Venza. There are also two diesel-powered models being considered: the VW Jetta TDI and Mercedes-Benz ML320 BlueTec.

The jury that decides the winners is comprised entirely of automotive journalists, two of which are part of the Autoblog family: John McElroy who writes a weekly editorial called Autoline on Autoblog and Gary Witzenburg who writes a weekly editorial called At Witz' End on AutoblogGreen.

While the 2009 TOTY award is likely to go to either the new Dodge Ram or Ford F-150, this year's coveted COTY award will be the most hotly contested one in recent memory. Seriously, which one would you choose? The giant-slaying GT-R? The class-busting Genesis? The Hail Mary pass XF? The techno starship MKS? The Grade-A retro Challenger? You get the idea. Vote for which vehicle you'd like to win in each category below in our straw polls.




[Source: Inside Line]

Click above image for more coverage of the 2008 Detroit Auto Show

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?

Last week after learning that General Motors is fielding four out of the six finalists for the 2008 North American Car and Truck of the Year awards, we decided to let you loose on which two vehicles you thought would be driving home with with a trophy.

We can't say we're surprised with your choice of the Cadillac CTS as 2008 North American Car of the Year. We've driven it a number of times and each time further supports our hypothesis that the new CTS is simply the best car built by an American automaker and one of the best sport/luxury mid-size models in the world. Hence, we think nearly 50% of the vote is deserved.

The race for 2008 North American Truck of the Year, however, appears much closer, with the Buick Enclave narrowly beating out the new Mazda CX-9 in our unofficial poll, 38.3% to 37.6%, or a difference of just 36 votes. While these two vehicles are both large CUVs with three rows of seating, we're pretty sure few will be cross shopping the Enclave that coddles with the CX-9 that goes Zoom.

Will our straw poll turn out to be accurate? We'll find out in January when the awards are officially handed out at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Last year General Motors swept the 2007 North American Car and Truck of the Year Awards, with both the Saturn Aura and Chevy Silverado taking home the honors. It looks as if the General has a good shot at repeating last year's sweep with news that four of the six finalists for the 2008 awards are GM vehicles.

The finalists for the 2007 North American Car of the Year award are the Cadillac CTS, Chevy Malibu and Honda Accord, while the truck finalists include the Buick Enclave, Chevy Tahoe Hybrid and the Mazda CX-9. These six vehicles were picked from a lot of 54 new models that went on sale this year, and the winners will be announced on January 13th at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The judging panel includes some 50 automotive journalists, including our own contributor John McElroy, who wrote about judging the vehicles in a previous Autoline on Autoblog report.

We're curious to know which car and truck you think is going to win this year, so feel free to vote in our poll below.



[Source: The Detroit News]

Due to an egregious omission of the 2007 Jeep Wrangler on the ballot for the 2007 North American Truck of the Year Award, jurors are being asked to revote for finalists of the honor that's traditionally bestowed upon the most deserving truck at the beginning of the Detroit Auto Show. Voting officially closed for the truck award on December 6th, but jurors now have until next Tuesday, December 19th, to revote. According to Automotive News, jurors have 25 points to distribute among the candidates, the maximum a vehicle can get is 10 and only one score of 10 can be awarded.

The Chevy Silverado, Ford Edge and Mazda CX-7 have already been chosen as finalists, and if the Wrangler finishes among the top three in the revote, it wlll become the fourth finalist.

Unfortunately Automotive News didn't find out the reason why the Jeep Wrangler was left off the ballot, so we can only suspect a vast right wing conspiracy as the root cause (j/k). Regardless, we should find out whether or not the Wrangle makes the cut before the awards are announced and presented on January 7th at the beginning of the Media Preview days of the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

[Source: Automotive News]