Magazine Lists Top 10 Winners, Losers in Automotive Industry for 2001

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Dec. 6 -- Each December, Car and Driver magazine announces its choice of 10Best cars of the year. The awards are celebrated by winning car companies. Those not making the list ... well, there's always next year or past glories for comfort.

Less celebrated but nonetheless just as telling about the automotive industry, is the magazine's Winners and Losers feature that pays homage to 10 newsmakers that won and 10 that lost -- during the previous 11 months.

Here's the list, in order of appearance, and, in a nutshell (see the issue or go online for details), why they were picked: 


    Winners                       Reason

    Chevrolet Corvette            Winning the Daytona 24 Hours
    Lexus                         Chosen above Lincoln and Cadillac to
                                   represent a millionaire's benefit from a
                                   proposed federal tax cut.
    Buick                         Gave green light to Bengal convertible
    Michael Schumacher            All-time winning-est Grand Prix driver
    Toyota                        Cleverly naming the Corolla Runx and the
                                   Modellista Mark II Fortuna
    Hot Rod magazine              Cover Blurb of the Year -- April issue
                                   (can't repeat it here, this is a family
                                   publication!)
    Seattle Police Department     Keystone Cops stolen car screwup
    7 "Quotes of the Year"        Example: "His corn flakes has done gone
                                   soft"
    Audi                          R8s remain the car to beat in the American
                                   Le Mans
    Best Original Thinking ...    "The California electrical shortage can be
                                   solved by one simple solution.  Turn off
                                   your vehicle headlights when not needed and
                                   drive less at night.  With these lights off
                                   we can save thousands of kilowatt-hours,
                                   considering the number of cars on the roads
                                   and the amount of time spent driving"

    Losers                        Reason

    Ford-Firestone                Tread separation fiasco
    Hypers of the movie, Driven   Why would you even ask ...
    Pontiac's Aztek               In AA, the first step to recovery is
                                   admitting a problem
    Forbes FYI                    Naming Chrysler's Prowler as "the most
                                   egregious misfire ... "
    Fox Sports telecast of
     NASCAR's Budweiser Shootout  Digitally altering decals on vehicles whose
                                   sponsors weren't advertising
    DaimlerChrysler               Raging debate over "merger of equals"
    Us (auto industry)            Loss of an inordinate pool of talent
    Land Rover                    Dwindling market share
    General Motors                Marketing mistakes
    Oldsmobile dealers            Out in the cold