2009 International Car Of The Year Winners Announced
We just got back from a very snowy trip to Detroit's MGM Grand casino where the thirteenth annual International Car of the Year Awards were held, hosted by Road & Travel magazine's editor-in-chief, Courtney Caldwell. The ballots had all been tallied, and from the original list of nominees, the following winners emerged.
International Car of the Year: Nissan GT-R
International Truck of the Year: Dodge Ram 1500
Additionally, the ICOTY jury presented their first-ever Earth, Wind & Power awards, which specifically shine the spotlight on fuel-efficient vehicles which have really taken our marketplace by storm. Those winners are:
EW&P Car of the Year: Volkswagen Jetta TDI
EW&P Truck of the Year: Ford Escape Hybrid
Click through our small gallery above to see photos of all the winners and stay tuned for all of our coverage from the 2009 North American International Auto Show, starting bright and early tomorrow morning.
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Comments
Anonymous
I thought there was a volume limit for ICOTY which the GT-R will not meet.
GiMa
CNN has a different view.
"DETROIT (CNNMoney.com) -- The Hyundai Genesis won the prestigious Car of the Year Award Sunday at the start of media preview days for the 2009 Detroit Auto Show. The redesigned Ford F-150 won the Truck of the Year award."
Ducati Minor
I think Detroit politics took part in this matter. Chrysler was given the truck category, while Ford was greeted with the green honor.
The Jetta selection didn't surprise me, as it was the only new green sedan (for '08) that gained any spotlight--albeit minimal to the general public. The demand just isn't there, thanks to economic factors (shaky fuel prices, the credit crunch), poor marketing, and a bad rep for diesel in the US.
The Nissan GT-R is a performance wonder, a tech-lover's dream. CNET had rave words for the Nissan and its technological sophistication. Still, I find it to be sub-par in overall engineering. It's a sports car that weighs as much as a small SUV. The design, the weight, and the computer-dominated driving (impressive as it is) puts it below the enthusiast's dream car.
The Genesis is a good effort, but not quite the statement the Lexus LS400 was back in the day. There is no fresh business model or class-leadership. It's a fine, well-built, low-priced luxury sedan. Not sure what honor it should earn, really.
hyundaismoke
The first LS400 was a "fine, well-built, low-priced luxury sedan. " Hyundai Building The Genesis was worth the award Ducatti. It was a great effort in revamping their image as a new "Near-Luxury" maker, Like Audi in the 60s, Toyota, did in the 80s etc..... By the way GiMa, the Hyundai Genesis won the North American (not international) Car of the Year. Most Americans buy cars based upon that, not the International car of the Year.
Also Ducatti, The GT-R is a kick ass car that rightfully won International Car of the Year. Even I as a Hyundai owner and fanboy can admit that. However, it did not win the North American Car of the Year due to affordablity and changing brand reputations. Hyundai is making great cars lately. While Nissan has been building overpriced rattle traps. Well at least for the North American market. Anyway, those pissed off Sentra and Altima owners, and some of them probably judges in Detroit, paid Nissan back for engine fires, failing brakes, loose wheel bearings, cracked gas tanks, etc...etc.... It seems as the Japanese Big-3 (Except Honda to a degree; abeit New Accord) are repeating the same mistakes as the American Big-3 did in the 1970s. High prices, shoddy build quality, large antiquated vehicle sizes, Muscle cars (example: GT-R), seeing competition (Koreans/US Ford Motor) as trivial. While the Koreans are repeating the successes the Japanese did in the 1970's/1980's. Watch, the New Sonata, and Euro Accent (i20) arriving in late 2010 will also add to the accolades the Genesis has been recieving
-Always Drive Foreign, the real patriotic thing to do is to let our wasteful auto industry to collapse so we can Nationalize it. We still make good trucks though.
Ducati Minor
Hyundaismoke:
You are correct that the GT-R did win International Car of the Year, though you are incorrect that it is a kick-ass car. The GT-R is a kick-ass car to your run-of-the-mill acne-covered Asian teenage boy. I use the term teenage loosely, for it actually stretches out the age of thirty in Asian gamer standards. The GT-R is, in the words of Jeremy Clarkson, "all tech and no soul."
Nissan built a car that can go fast...and that's it. The speed is impressive, but so is Sarah Jessica Parker's nose.
The "first" LS400 was the "only" LS400, and I did make an obvious link with the Genesis. If you weren't so burdened with sexual confusion or clicking on those porno pop-ups, you would've been able to figure that out.
Winding Road will be officially presenting its first User Loser Award. I'm not supposed to be leaking the info, but you've passed mo in the votes are in the lead. Congratulations.
Please hang yourself as soon as you receive it. I've done you the favor of including a photo album of me in various erotic poses to help push you ahead.
hyundaismoke
Oh wow Ducatti, nice orginality man. Lmao.
-Always Drive Foreign, the real patriotic thing to do is to let our wasteful auto industry to collapse so we can Nationalize it. We still make good trucks though.