The giant Detroit manufacturers dominated the auto show this year with Cadillac winning the much-anticipated Car of that year award for its new ATS compact luxury sedan. On the other hand, the all new Ram 1500 bagged the trophy of Truck for that Year in the North American Auto Show, today. The other brands successfully qualifying for the finals in the car category are Honda Accord and Ford Fusion. In the truck or utility category, the other two finalists were Mazda CX-5 and Ford C-Max. Owing to a wide variety of trucks available in the market today, the category has been renamed as North American Utility of that Year.
Owned by General Motors, Cadillac has only been the ‘bridesmaid’ in the auto show early, never winning the award for Car of that year. It has managed to be one of the finalists several times but has never taken home the trophy. In the year 2004, Cadillac was among the finalists with its SRX crossover and XLR roadster, but lost the trophy to Ford F-150 and Toyota Prius. In 2008, Cadillac luxury Marque again made to the finals of the top car award with its CTS, but Chevrolet Malibu successfully bagged the trophy.
For Ram, it was only after 1994 that the brand won the top honor in the truck/utility category. In 2009, it lost the trophy to the category winner Ford F-150.
This year, the name of the winners for the award were chosen by 49 auto journalists from Canada and the United States, which included Joann Muller, Detroit Bureau Chief of Forbes. Downsizing from 46 all new vehicles to only 11 cars and 10 trucks, the judges voted for the vehicles, which set new standards or has raised the bar in their respective categories. Only the vehicles which have been substantially changed or redone for the 2013 model were eligible for the awards.
Talking about this award, Dave Leone, Chief Engineer, Cadillac ATS project, stated that this is important for Cadillac to reestablish the brand as the ‘standard of the world.’ Ram’s general manager, Fred Diaz was overwhelmed with the award, saying that it comes as ‘sweeter,’ considering the bitter fact that parent company Chrysler was declared bankrupt few years ago.
