Last year, Ford, with its Focus, was the sole U.S. manufacturer included in the final list for the North American Car and Truck of the Year award and it finished in third place, behind the VW Passat and the winner, Hyundai’s Elantra.
Even more surprising was the truck class where the Range Rover Evoque beat the Honda CR-V and the BMW X3. Where is this world coming to if U.S. manufacturers can’t build an SUV or truck to make an impression in their own market?
Fortunately for them, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have made a comeback in the 2013 NCTOY finalists.
Along with the Honda Accord, Cadillac’s ATS and Ford’ Fusion are the three finalists in the car category. We don’t know if the ATS will win the crown but GM must surely be jumping in joy for putting yet another one over the BMW 3-Series, which was left out.
It’s the same story in the truck/utility category, with Chrysler’s RAM1500 full-size pickup and the Ford C-MAX Hybrid MPV being joined by Mazda’s CX-5 compact SUV.
Two out of three in both categories isn’t bad at all for Detroit. Even more so if you factor in that the group from which they were selected by the 49 motoring journalists that vote for the NCTOY included 30 new cars and 15 new trucks, that were then narrowed down to 11 and 10 respectively.
So, which one of the three cars and the three truck/utility models from the final list (F) do you think will win the 2013 award in each category? Have your say below.
By Andrew Tsaousis
Vehicles selected for the 2013 North American Car of the Year in alphabetical order:
BMW 3 Series
Cadillac ATS (F)
Chevrolet Malibu
Dodge Dart
Ford Fusion (F)
Honda Accord (F)
Lincoln MKZ
Nissan Altima
Scion FR-S
Subaru BRZ
Toyota AvalonVehicles selected for the 2013 North American Truck/Utility of the Year (in alphabetical order):
Acura RDX
Audi Allroad
BMW X1
Ford C-MAX (F)
Ford Escape
Hyundai Santa Fe
Infiniti JX 35
Mazda CX-5 (F)
Nissan Pathfinder
Ram 1500 (F)
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