Land Rover lands a finalist with the Range Rover Evoque - which goes up against the Honda CR-V and BMW X3.
For the first time ever there will be no Detroit entries among the finalists for North American Truck of the Year – and only one domestic among the Car of the Year finalists.
The all-new Range Rover Evoque, updated Honda CR-V and second-generation BMW X3 grabbed the three top spots among many new truck models tested by the North American Car and Truck of the Year jury – which consists of 50 automotive journalists from the U.S. and Canada.
The finalists in the car category include Ford Motor Co.’s new “world car,” the Focus, Hyundai’s restyled Elantra and the latest-generation Volkswagen Passat, the first model to roll out of the German maker’s new plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Ford's 2012 Focus is the only domestic finalist in either the car or truck category.
It was a challenging year for jurors to decide, the original list including nearly five dozen different cars, trucks and crossovers. Last month, jurors parsed the list down to a semi-finalist tally of 17 cars and seven trucks.
The results of the 19th annual NACTOY awards will be presented at the upcoming Detroit Auto Show – though the award program is not affiliated with the show itself.
The fact that no Detroit truck landed in the finalist list is one of a number of surprises that have come out of the NACTOY awards since they debuted. Among other things:
- Domestic brands have traditionally dominated the North American Truck of the Year balloting, winning 12 times, with Japanese makers honored four times. European brands won twice;
- Domestic makers have won the North American Car of the Year trophy 10 times, Europeans four times, and Japanese have taken top honors three times. The Koreans have taken just one award — for the Hyundai Genesis. This year would Elantra give them a shot at a second.