Finalists for the 2009 North American Car of the Year and Truck of the Year awards announced

A couple of European car manufacturers, a couple of domestics and, for the first time, a Korean car manufacturer compose the six final contenders for the North American Car of the Year and the North American Truck of the Year awards, it was made public today. Two of the six cars are fresh, clean diesels that can be vended in all 50 states.

This is the first time in 16 years that a diesel-propelled vehicle has been a finalist. A group of 50 car reporters selected the Ford Flex, Hyundai Genesis and Volkswagen Jetta TDI as finalists for the 2009 North American Car of the Year. And for the 2009 North American Truck of the Year, the finalists are the Dodge Ram, Ford F-150 and Mercedes-Benz ML320 BlueTEC.
Read Article

mercuryguy - 12/20/2008 12:39:51 PM

-1 Boost

I'd Like to see a VW Diesel win.

This will put us on a road to Diesel in the US.

In the Northern states where Heavy Snow and Salted roads are an issue, electrical Cars will be very costly for the consumer to maintain in these severe environments, especially after the car gets to be about 5 years old.

With the Global Downturn, the trend will be to keep a car for many years as opposed to dicarding and buying new, so durability might be a new benchmark.

ChuckG20 - 12/20/2008 2:00:34 PM

-3 Boost

The 1990 Infiniti Q45 with worn-out leather seating and fake wood should be honored with 'car of the year' accolades. My third-rate stripper girlfriend certainly thinks so.

Chuck!

Whelan - 12/22/2008 9:24:28 AM

+1 Boost

The Benz is not a truck. It is an SUV. So they should either have a Truck and SUV category or call it the Truck/SUV category. Since Mercedes does not make a pikcup truck then you cannot really say that it is an SUV made on a truck frame. That is something you see on the F150 and other trucks used in there SUVs like the Durango and Explorer. Those are truck frames with SUV bodies. The Mercedes is an SUV, so get it right.

Now that has been cleared up. Are they basing this off of peoples opinions or their own thoughts. Motor Trend uses a lot of factors for their picks as does JD Power. I can tell you I hardly see any VW Jetta diesels or Passat diesels anywhere. And I have yet to see a ML with BlueTec.

2ndbimmer - 12/22/2008 11:22:12 AM

+1 Boost

how did the mazda CX-9 win truck of the year?