A jury of 50 automotive journalists have selected the finalists for the 2012 North American Car and Truck of the Year – NACTOY. The six vehicles were announced at an Automotive Press Association luncheon today in Detroit. The winners will be announced at the North American International Auto Show – NAIAS – in January.
Cars selected were the 2012 Ford Focus, 2012 Hyundai Elantra and the 2012 Volkswagen Passat. Last year the Chevrolet Volt was the car winner. In the misleadingly named ‘truck’ category, the 2012 BMW X3, 2012 Honda CR-V and the 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque made the final cut.
Jurors have 25 points to distribute among the car nominees and 25 points to distribute among the truck nominees. No vehicle may be given more than 10 points and that may only be done once, and vehicles can be given no points. It therefore is possible that winners could be everyone’s second or third personal choice.
Last year’s truck winner, the Ford Explorer, like all of this year’s ‘truck’ finalists was built form a car platform. There’s more irony still. In 2010, the North American Truck of the Year was the Ford Transit Connect – an outright commercial vehicle, according to its maker. See – And the North American Truck of the Year is, well, a Car!
To be fair it’s a long standing problem, compounded by multi-billion automaker marketing budgets that attempt to square the circle in various ways. First it was trucks, real trucks with car like qualities; then, crossovers built from cars but with truck-like capabilities; now not a minivan or a truck but a multi-activity vehicle, whatever that is.
Abraham Lincoln once successfully argued a case by posing the following question: If I call the tail a leg, how many legs does a horse have? The correct answer Lincoln averred was four, since calling a tail a leg, doesn’t actually make it one. Lincoln won the case…
More details at http://www.northamericancaroftheyear.org/
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
