North American Car of the Year Short List Announced

Every year, the magazines get together a fleet of the year's new vehicles to crown the best one (or ones). Automobile Magazine All-Stars, Motor Trend Car of the Year are two examples.

The North American Car of the Year award is different though - it is selected based on the opinions of a group of 50 automotive journalists, who hail from a variety of magazines and newspapers (with some being freelance as well).

Last year, the winners included the Hyundai Genesis and, in the truck category, the Ford F-150. Short list contenders for this year have just been announced, with the winners to be announced at the North American International Auto Show in January.

The list of contenders for North American Car of the Year includes the BMW 335d, Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon, Chevrolet Camaro, Ford Fusion/Fusion Hybrid, Ford Taurus/Taurus SHO, Honda Insight, Kia Soul, Mazda3/MazdaSpeed3, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Porsche Panamera, Subaru Legacy, Suzuki Kizashi, Toyota Prius and Volkswagen Golf. Quite a list huh!

Wait, there is more - contenders for the North American Truck of the Year include the Acura ZDX, Audi Q5, Cadillac SRX, Chevrolet Equinox, Ford Transit Connect, Honda Crosstour, Land Rover LR4, Lincoln MKT, Subaru Outback and Volvo XC60.

In my opinion the cars that are likeliest to get the award are the Ford Fusion, Ford, Taurus and Buick LaCrosse. For the trucks (really crossovers) the list would be the Acura ZDX, Audi Q5, Chevrolet Equinox, Lincoln MKT and Volvo XC60. We'll see soon enough though. In 2008, the winners were the Chevrolet Malibu and the Mazda CX-9.