GM Nabs Car And Truck Of Year Awards

Saturn Aura And Chevy Silverado Take Honors At Opening Of Detroit Auto Show

(AP)  The Saturn Aura and Chevrolet Silverado were chosen as the 2007 car and truck of the year at the North American International Auto Show.

The awards were presented Sunday, the first day of media previews for the show. The show opens to the public Saturday.

The winners were picked by a group of 49 full-time automotive journalists from the U.S. and Canada. Finalists had to be new or substantially redesigned from the previous model to be eligible to win the award, which has been granted at the show for 14 years.

Both vehicles are made by General Motors Corp., meaning that the winners came from a single manufacturer for the second year in a row. Last year's winners were the Honda Motor Co.'s Ridgeline pickup and Civic car line.

The Aura beat two other finalists in the balloting for North American Car of the Year, the Honda Fit and Toyota Camry. The journalists picked the Silverado as well as the Ford Edge Mazda CX-7 crossovers as finalists.

The North American honors have been given annually since 1994. Jurors scrutinize each vehicle's design, safety, handling and innovations. Judges also consider driver satisfaction and value.

U.S. brands have won the car award seven times, with Japanese brands taking top honors three times and European brands winning four times.

Domestic brands have fared better in the truck awards, taking them nine years, while Japanese brands have won three times and the Europeans have won twice.

[geneo87571]

I you can keep the running lights from burning out and the head lights adjusted maybe,you've been slack for so long,just have to wait and see.

[geneo87571]

I you can keep the running lights from burning out and the head lights adjusted maybe,you've been slack for so long,just have to wait and see.

[martinab1]

I bought an Aura, love it! Solid, quiet, and a head-turner and for a very decent price!

[tpeks40]

Go online to Ford and watch "The truth about trucks". It's an eye opener for certain. It's obvious that GM incorporated many of Ford's innovations, but how many is unknown because GM doesn't have anything like "The truth about trucks" to compare to. I'll stick with my Ford truck until there's more information about the GM products.

[j_flood]

I'm an American living in Europe, and a native Detroiter, so I've always had my eyes on cars. After seven years here I've come to view the automobile differently than when I lived in the states. The function and types of cars used in Europe cannot be compared 'like for like' with American cars. Too many differences from roads to taxation. American cars suffer from the burden of labor agreements. In Germany that burden is also there too. If the Democrats have a 'real' mission they should phase in 2-3 dollars worth of taxes on the price of fuel. Within years you'd see American cars and trucks much more similar to their European cousins.

[thomderr]

Let's get the new chevy 'Volt' online and see what happens!

[dmorg4]

Thats not true the europien cars are long
behind the American and japanise cars i live
in europe and have repaired both

[olebd]

I hear from my auto component engineer buddy that Nissan is coming out with a heavy duty pickup around 2009 and in the next few years, there will be a wave of highly efficient diesel and diesel hybrid cars and trucks from Toyota, VW and Nissan. We'll see what happen then.

[bluestardad]

This award is like the Cold War era Olympics where the Russian judge gives the award to the WARSAWPAC athlete. American Auto Industry is way behind Asia and Europe in every aspect of auto production. But they can give themselves an award.