Volkswagen Group of America has four vehicles in the running for North American Car and Truck of the Year awards.
The 10 cars and 12 trucks on the 57-member jury’s short list also include three each from Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. The list of nominees will be reduced to three cars and three trucks in December, with a winner from each category revealed in January at the Detroit auto show.
No vehicles from the BMW, Cadillac or Kia brands made the short list, despite having multiple eligible nameplates. The awards recognize the best vehicles that are “new or substantially changed” in the past year, according to the program’s website.
GM swept the 2014 awards with the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and Silverado. GM also won the 2013 car of the year award, for the Cadillac ATS, but it has no cars on this year’s short list.
Ford last won in 2011 when the Explorer received the truck of the year award. The redesign of Ford’s most important vehicle, the F-150 pickup, to use an aluminum body makes it a favorite to win truck of the year. The F-150 won each of the last three times it was redesigned — 2009, 2004 and 1996. But among its competitors this year are GM’s two new small pickups, the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon.
VW’s last winner was the New Beetle, which won car of the year in 1999.
Cars on the 2015 short list are the Acura TLX, Audi A3, Chrysler 200, Ford Mustang, Honda Fit, Hyundai Genesis sedan, Hyundai Sonata, Mercedes-Benz C class, Toyota Camry and Volkswagen Golf/GTI.
Trucks on the short list are the Audi Q3, Chevrolet Colorado, Chevrolet Tahoe, Ford F-150, GMC Canyon, Lexus NX, Lincoln MKC, Mercedes-Benz GLA class, Nissan Murano, Porsche Macan, Subaru Outback and Toyota Highlander. The Ford Edge was initially selected but was disqualified because it will be introduced too late to be eligible this year.
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