North American Car of the Year Finalists Are Announced

The three finalists for North American Car of the Year honors were announced on Thursday, with the Hyundai Sonata, Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf vying for bragging rights. One will receive the top honor on Jan. 10 during the Detroit auto show, The New York Times reported.

Three S.U.V.’s, the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango and Ford Explorer, comprise the truck division’s finalists.

Balloting involved 49 journalists from the United States and Canada, who submitted their picks this month.

Should the Volt plug-in hybrid or purely electric Leaf win, it would cap a year of rather qualified praise for the two models. The Volt might have been driven by President Obama on its factory floor, but it had also been criticized for being priced beyond the reach of many Americans. Meanwhile, range anxiety has been the Leaf’s albatross, with questions regarding its range, particularly in cold climates and over hilly terrain.

The truck finalists are notable for eschewing the segment’s traditional body-on-frame chassis architecture in favor of more supple, carlike unibody underpinnings. These are not the utilitarian North American Truck of the Year honorees of yore.