2009 North American Car and Truck of the Year candidates announced

Posted Wed Sep 17 2008 10:49 AM by Nelson Ireson

Coinciding with the upcoming 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the 2009 North American Car and Truck of the Year (NACTOY) awards are taking off with the announcement today of the vehicles that will vie for the crown. A total of 26 cars and trucks are being considered, and that in itself is an honor, though only one in each category will walk away the winner.

A new complication for 2009 arises in classification: how to handle the crossovers. In fact, crossovers populate a fair portion of both fields, with the Ford Flex and Toyota Venza in the car of they year (COTY) and the BMW X6, Infiniti FX35/50 and Mercedes-Benz ML320 BlueTEC among the many truck of the year (TOTY) crossovers. The only true pickup trucks on the TOTY list are the Dodge Ram and the venerable Ford F-150.

Last year's winners of the COTY and TOTY were the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu and the 2008 Mazda CX-9, respectively.

This year's favored COTY contestants include the BMW 1-series with its available twin-turbo six-cylinder engine, Nissan's GT-R - also featuring a twin-turbo six, and the supercharged-V8 CTS-V, though the more every-day vehicles like the Mazda6 or the Pontiac G8 could prove the more popular choice. It will be interesting to see if the final choice favors performance or parsimony, as the political climate on emissions and efficiency could shape the outcome as much as anything.

The North American Car of the Year finalists are a select group of automobiles chosen each year by a panel of 47 journalists. Since 1994 the NACOTY has been the car chosen by those whose business is knowing and driving cars.

2009 North American Car of the Year candidates
Audi A4
BMW 1-series
Cadillac CTS-V
Dodge Challenger
Ford Flex
Honda Fit
Hyundai Genesis
Jaguar XF
Lincoln MKS
Mazda6
Nissan GT-R
Pontiac G8
Toyota Venza
Volkswagen Jetta TDI

2009 North American Truck of the Year Candidates
BMW X6
Chevrolet Traverse
Dodge Ram
Ford F-150
Honda Pilot
Infiniti FX35/50
Kia Borrego
Mercedes ML320 BlueTEC
Nissan Murano
Saturn Vue 2-Mode Hybrid
Subaru Forester
Volkswagen Tiguan

Reader Comments

Wed Sep 17 2008 6:48 PM
Gus says

See, to me, a GT-R is a car no one will ever be able to obtain. The price will always be inflated to astronomical levels, and as such doesn't really interest me.
That said, a new Corvette might be fun, seeing as how they are selling for invoice at the local dealer. Now if I only didn't need a back seat for my kid... :)

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