The automotive industry love to distribute Awards. From the prestigious car of the year to the best door knob manufacturer. We will keep you informed on the most interesting ones.
While most readers don’t peruse the pages of Playboy for insight into the latest car models, the premier Entertainment for Men magazine does happen to have quite a bit of insight into a world of style and elegance beyond most of our wildest imaginations. And it just so happens that we agree with their unique look at everything on four wheels. Taking the top spot was Porsche’s Panamera Turbo, thanks to the German sports car maker devotion to innovation and sophistication along with insane amounts of power. The Best Convertible award went to the Ferrari California with its unique styling and retractable metal roof.
The Best Horsepower Value was deemed to be the Nismo 370Z while the front wheel drive Mazdaspeed3 was named the Best Bang for your Buck and Audi’s diesel sipping A3 TDI became the best alternatively fueled vehicle. Bold styling and a twin turbocharged 365 HP ECOBoost six cylinder helped the Ford Taurus SHO to win the Best Reborn Beauty award. An unlikely candidate for the crossover segment, but BMW’s 5-Series GT was Playboy’s look good while carrying a lot of stuff was the best CUV. Not only is the Ford Fusion Hybrid the most fuel efficient mid size sedan on the market, but it also won Mr. Hefner’s Mean and Green award while the Mercedes Benz E 63 AMG took home the award for best sports sedan with its wide fenders and hand built V8. Now that Playboy has announced the winners, we can’t wait to see the spread.
Quite a few shiny new cars have rolled through the Top Speed garage over the last 365 days, we have logged countless miles and spent enough time in drive thrus to thoroughly evaluate the ins and outs of everything from a stripped down fuel efficient Chevy Cobalt XFE that we thought would make a great racecar all the way up to a fully loaded ginormous GL 550 from Mercedes, everything from the gas/electric hybrid king of the road Toyota Prius to just about every iteration of Subaru’s all new Legacy. But it wasn’t until recently when Santa brought us the best early Christmas gift of all time, a Victory Red Chevrolet Camaro SS.
Ever since spending an afternoon with the man who drew the car, Luciano Nakamura, we have grown fond of the 2010 Camaro’s sinister grin, broad shoulders and classic Coke bottle shape. However when we received the keys to the more economical V6 equipped RS model earlier this year and we found it to be lacking in a few areas, mainly performance. At the heart of the the 21st century Super Sport pony car is a 426 HP LS3 V8 that breathes new life into the Camaro. The rumble of fuel injected Detroit iron miraculously made the interior much larger and while most journalists have complained about the extra cylinders adding too much weight over the front axle, but we felt the Camaro SS was more then well equipped to hang the tail out or handle a hard turn in.
It didn’t matter if we were banging gears or just cruising, we loved the way the retro steering wheel made you drive the Camaro with your fingertips, not to mention staring at those broad shoulders every time you look back at someone who isn’t having as fun as you are in the side mirror. Combine that kind of performance with a mid $35,000 price tag and you have just opened up an entire new audience to a beautifully styled high performance muscle car, and for that we must name the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS as the 2009 Top Speed Car of the Year.
The boys at Top Gear have already announced the Ferrari 458 Italia to be both their "Super car of the year" and "Car of the year", but there is another sports car being recognized by the automotive journal for one of their annual awards. The all new Lotus Evora is poised to take the sports car market by storm as the world’s only mid engine 2+2, powered by a Lotus tuned 3.5 Liter Toyota V6 that produces a very potent 276 HP and weighing in at just 2,976 lbs. the Evora is guaranteed to shake things up a bit.
Even if it’s not on sale yet, the 2010 Lotus Evora has just been announced as the Top Gear Magazine’s best Sports Car over the last 12 months. According to the English magazine’s Editor, Conor McNicholas, "[The Evora] is pretty quintessentially British, fast and handles like a dream. Evora takes Lotus to a new place in terms of quality, but more importantly delivers a sports car rush that puts other marques to shame" not to mention at a fraction of the price. The Lotus CEO, Dany Bahar, continued by saying that "I am particularly pleased that the Top Gear team commented on the huge improvements in quality at Lotus, confirming that the Evora is an exciting supercar that can also be used for every day driving." This is only the latest award in what is becoming a long list of automotive accolades.
Every year the L.A. Autoshow asks manufacturers from around the world to envision the car of the future and then to display their forward thinking designs for all of Los Angeles to see. Every year the theme differs a bit form the year before, this year’s LA Design Challenge is all about what first time drivers will be behind the proverbial wheel of in 2030. While all of the Youthmobile 2030 entries delivered a variety of solutions to future transportation, the judges have spoken and it looks like we will be driving on the GRID because the Nissan V2G will take home the top honor. The 2030 Nissan Vehicle to Grid offers consumers everything from social media to tuner transformations with its infotainment interface and off-GRID gadgetry that allows owners the ability to tailor their future electric vehicles to their specific tastes.
Even if the diesel burning Audi A3 just arrived in U.S. last month, the alternatively fueled hatchback already has a huge following around the world. And it hasn’t taken long for the other A3 to find success being named the 2010 Green Car of the Year by the Green Car Journal and the GreenCar.com website at the 2009 LA Auto Show. The 2.0 Liter TDI four cylinder engine delivers a maximum output of 140 HP and because it is a diesel, significantly more torque, 236 lb-ft to be exact. Yet despite the excessive amount of thrust, the green A3 is able to get an EPA estimated 42 MPG on the highway.
According to the President of Audi of America, Johan de Nysschen, "We consider the Green Car of the Year® title one of the most important industry accolades. It is of paramount importance for us to develop vehicles that achieve the very touchstones this award stands for fuel efficiency and environmental impact. Rather than novelty features, we consider these attributes imperative to the future of automobile design. We are honored with this recognition for the Audi A3 TDI." With a shift towards premium compacts and fuel efficient car shopping, Audi look like they are on the right track towards selling these green A3s like hot cakes.
It is no surprise that the latest mid engine offering from Maranello has caught the attention of the motoring press with its dramatic new styling and revolutionary 4.5 Liter V8 engine equipped with a traditional flat style crankshaft that giving the new super car Ferrari’s signature top end bark producing 570 HP at an astonishingly high 9000 RPM. Tipping the scales at just over 3000 pounds, the new Ferrari 458 Italia will rocket from 0 to 60 MPH in just 3.4 seconds and won’t stop until it reaches a top speed of 202 MPH. For these reasons and a whole lot more, the BBC’s crack team of automotive scrupulators from Top Gear have selected the all new Italia as their car of the year for 2009.
The 458 was unveiled earlier this year at the Frankfurt Motor Show and it should arrive in showrooms here in the U.S. by the beginning of next summer. In reference as to why the Italia was chosen as the 2009 Top Gear car of the year, responses ranged from the 458 being “a game changing car” and “the new benchmark in getting from A to B as rapidly as possible” to being chosen as “our winner because the scope of its abilities is absolutely breathtaking” and that it “isn’t just a worthy winner, it’s off the scale!” We couldn’t agree more.
Jaguar showed off their 2010 XJ at the 2009 Miami Auto Show. Although they had already unveiled the new Jag in London with our favorite late night funny man Jay Leno and super model Claudia Schiffer to take wraps off the new cat, the new XJ was just as stunning in South Florida. This particular model was the very first of the special edition XJs built for Neiman Marcus and quite possibly put the car over the top with its wraparound wood interior and cat claw inspired rear tail lamps. The 2010 XJ is the first Jaguar model to be built using Jaguar’s aerospace-inspired aluminum body technology and will be available with a stretched wheelbase option as well as a choice of new ultra-efficient Gen III classification petrol and diesel engines consisting of a 3.0 Liter diesel V6, a 5.0 Liter naturally aspirated V8 as well as the almighty 5.0 Liter supercharged 8 cylinder power plant.
The pride and joy of General Motor was slowly pinning around front and center amongst a field of Cadillacs at the Miami Auto Show. Although the Converj concept car made it’s debut at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year, it’s slipery shape and and jaw dropping presence was good enough to stop us judges dead in our tracks and take the trophy for the 2009 Concept Car of the Show. This plug in gas/electric hybrid vehicle was almost disqualified as one of the judges deemed it to be too production ready for the concept award, and it did loose some points for wearing too narrow rear rubber, however streamlined shapes and low rolling resistance is what an efficient future is all about. Maybe it was the 21st century luxury car’s plush interior and electroluminescent gauges or the roof mounted solar panel the put the Cadillac Converj over the top.
When the blue oval’s high performance engineers were given the option of either producing another tire shredding SVT Lightning or something completely different, they opted for plan b. Instead of a supercharged work truck that can blow the doors off of most sports cars in a straight line, the SVT group chose to build an off road version of the F-150 that would be competitive in the Baja 1000 right out of the showroom, and actually ended up earning a spot on the podium. Now Texans know a thing or two about pick up trucks, with their starry skies and wide open spaces residents of America’s third coast get plenty out of their pick up trucks. So it was quite an honor when the Texas Auto Writers Association named the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor as their 2009 Truck of Texas. This marks the seventh consecutive time that a Ford F-Series pick up truck has won the award from TAWA.
Ford Motor Company’s president of the Americas, Mark Fields was particularly pleased when he heard the good news. “Winning the Truck of Texas is a distinct honor… Texans know their trucks, and this award is further proof of why the F-Series remains America’s number-one selling pickup. We built F-150 SVT Raptor for truck enthusiasts. And we’re gratified it’s gaining recognition for both its unequaled off-road performance and confidence-inspiring on-road demeanor." The Raptor combines extreme off road capabilities with an aggressive on road package that should only get better in 2010 when Ford puts the more powerful 6.2 Liter V8 version on sale at the beginning of next year.
The candidates for the 2010 North American car and Truck of the Year was recently released and as with any awards categories, this one includes a steady dose of expectant favorites, underdogs, and the proverbial dark horses.
All in all, 37 vehicles have been nominated for the two categories. The country with the most nominations is Japan with 12 – which includes a rare Suzuki entry with the Kizashi. Japan is followed by two regions fielding 11 cars each: the US and Europe. Rounding out the field is Korea with three entries with the Hyundai Genesis, the Kia Forte and the Kia Soul.
Noticeably absent from being nominated in the two categories is Chrysler, despite having a slew of cars and trucks in its roster.
Both Hyundai and Ford figure to defend their titles as Car and Truck of the Year after winning the two awards last year with the 2009 Hyundai Genesis and the 2009 Ford F-150, respectively. While the 2010 Genesis remains in the hunt for a back-to-back showing, the F-150 conspicuously was left among the entries for the Truck of the Year, meaning that it’s up to the Ford Transit Connect to defend Ford’s title.
Continued with list of nominees for the 2010 North America Car of the Year after the jump.Full story
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