Finalists for North American Car of the Year and North American Truck of the Year
DETROIT, Dec. 13, 2004 -- Forty-eight automotive journalists from the United States and Canada have selected the 2005 Chevrolet Corvette, the Chrysler 300/300C and the Ford Mustang as finalists for the North American Car of the Year. The Ford Escape Hybrid, the Ford Freestyle and the Land Rover LR3 were chosen as finalists for the North American Truck of the Year.
The finalists were announced today at a news conference during a luncheon meeting of the Detroit Economic Club and officials of the North American International Auto Show.
The winners of the most prestigious awards in North America will be announced on January 9th at the North American International Auto Show, which is not otherwise involved in the awards.
Each year since 1992 the jury of journalists representing newspapers, magazines and television honors a new car and a new truck that are benchmarks in their segments for performance in areas including innovation, value for the dollar, safety, ride and handling.
This year the journalists voted on 17 cars and 12 trucks. The ballots were sent to and counted by Steven Laughman, a partner at the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche, who handed over the names of the finalists at the news conference.
Here are the vehicles on which the jurors voted: North American Car of the Year Acura RL Audi A6 BMW 6-Series Buick LaCrosse Cadillac STS Chevrolet Corvette Chrysler 300/300C Dodge Magnum Ford Five Hundred Ford Mustang Honda Accord Hybrid Honda Odyssey Pontiac G6 Porsche 911 Scion tC Subaru Legacy Volvo S40/V50 North American Truck of the Year Chevrolet Equinox Dodge Dakota Ford Escape Hybrid Ford Freestyle Ford F-Series Super Duty Hyundai Tucson Infiniti QX56 Jeep Grand Cherokee Land Rover LR3 Nissan Frontier Nissan Pathfinder Toyota Tacoma
Last year's North American Car of the Year was the Toyota Prius, while the North American Truck of the Year was the Ford F-150.
The awards are funded by dues paid by jurors and are administered by a seven-person organizing committee. They are Tony Swan (Car and Driver); John McElroy (Autoline Detroit); John Davis (MotorWeek); Don Chaikin (Popular Mechanics); Alex Law (Freelance); Mitch McCullough (New Car Test Drive) and Christopher Jensen (The Plain Dealer).
