With the opening of the Detroit Auto Show the winners of the 2008 North American Car & Truck of the Year have been announced. This year’s ceremony saw the Chevrolet Malibu take out the top car award and Mazda’s CX-9 SUV take home the medal for truck of the year. The Malibu didn’t come as a complete surprise considering four of the six finalists were from GM’s stable but the Mazda came as a shock, especially up against vehicles like the Chevrolet Tahoe and Buick Enclave.

The winners were determined by 48 automotive journalists from the U.S. and Canada and were judged depending on their respective levels of innovation, design, safety, handling, fuel economy, performance, comfort, driver satisfaction and value for the dollar. Our pick would have been the Cadillac CTS, which, incidently, ended up a close second behind the Malibu.