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[News Feed]

The Hyundai Elantra is the 2012 North American Car of the Year and the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque is the North American Truck of the Year. The winners were announced this morning in Detroit. This is the second time atop the podium for Hyundai, which won in 2009 for the Genesis. It's the first time for Land Rover. The Elentra beat out the Ford Focus and the Volkswagen Passat; the Evoque triumphed over the BMW X3 and redesigned Honda CR-V

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[MoparNorm]

Ironic, Land Rover does not have a display at the show this year.

[John Hagen]

This has gone on long enough. Neither the TOTY winner, Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, nor the runners up, BMW X3 nor Honda CRV, are trucks. They are SUV's, plain and simple. Check Webster's and the word truck, as a vehicle, has several definitions, all of which pertain to hauling large/ and/or heavy commodities. Something SUV's don't do.

Maybe, in fact probably, there should be SUVOTY award so real trucks have a real chance of winning TOTY. And further there should be a little tightening of requirements. While the stereo and video systems may weigh strongly on car and SUV's they should take a decidedly back seat to load carrying capacity on trucks. Further, anything that does not have at least six feet of load space, none of which may intrude into the cab area, should not qualify as a truck. Put those oversized, four door sedan's with four foot open trunk areas in with the other SUV's.

A truck is a truck, and this years TOTY winner isn't.

[FreeLantz]

I tend to agree about the watering down of the "truck" definition, and neither of these winners impress me very much to begin with.  How many Range Rovers are sold annually?  Not many.  I tend to think the title of "North American Car (or Truck) of the Year" should go to something that actually matters in the marketplace.

[Dr. Dan's Caravan]

A Hyundai won 2012 North American COTY? Yikes! I can only think of a few explanations:

• The old "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
  
• Styling doesn't count in the organization's scoring...no wait a minute, that's Consumer Reports.
  
• Someone slipped a little LSD in the judges' bottled water.
  
• Mr. Magoo is the chief judge.

I realize that "1" is the correct answer. No offense intended, to anyone who likes the Elantra. Nonetheless, I don't like seeing them in my rearview mirror, for fear that the driver wouldn't be able to see a school bus with its lights flashing, to say nothing of my inconspicuous sage-green Caravan.

[Stratuscaster]

Two co-workers recently bought Elantras. They aren't bad vehicles at all. Visibility doesn't seem to be much worse than any other similar-sized or styled car.

But yes, styling is certainly subjective.

[bumonbox]

I maintain some vague optimism that these guys will have enough sense to hand Chrysler a trophy (or 2, the ram updates may be deserving of attention) next year

[Dr. Dan's Caravan]

bumonbox, on February 8, 2012 at 08:54 am, said:

I maintain some vague optimism that these guys will have enough sense to hand Chrysler a trophy (or 2, the ram updates may be deserving of attention) next year

Bumonbox: love your tagline re: Consumer Reports.
If those folks liked the Elantra, maybe they'll love the Dart. Kind of in the same ballpark for aggressive front end but with (in my opinion) much better looking (and more reasonably sized) headlight trim, to say nothing of the spiffy classic-Dodge tail treatment.

A friend of mine really likes his Hyundai Azera. That one to me is a handsome car.

[Dr. Dan's Caravan]

I had intended just to "vent" on Hyundai's styling and move on, but...

Saw a new Elantra at Walmart today. Never mind aesthetics, but how the heck can the driver see out the back of that thing? Certainly not as well as out of my girlfriend's Dodge Neon I was driving. My remark about seeing Elantras in my rearview mirror was just tongue-in-cheek. However, when I say I'd be leery of walking behind one with its back-up lights on, I'm being literal.

In fairness to Hyundai, this seems to be a trend in recent cars: I felt blind when I sat behind the wheel of an '05 Magnum. Nothing like the 360 view from the Olds Ciera wagon I had at the time (or any Caravan/Voyager/T&C). Dodge deserves lots of praise for monopolizing the market for new station wagons that people like to be seen in. Although I like the Magnum enough that I would have bought one if I had the money, I might have added one of those backup cameras that big motor homes come with these days.