North American Vehicles of the Year Announced

The Honda Civic and Volvo XC90 shared the spotlight this morning.

That’s when they were publicly named as the 2016 North American Car of the Year and North American Truck/Utility of the Year, respectively.

These honors, announced during a news conference at Detroit’s annual North American International Auto Show, are voted on and awarded by an independent jury of more than 50 veteran automotive journalists from American and Canadian magazines, TV and radio stations, newspapers and websites.

The awards, now in their 23rd year, recognize the most outstanding new vehicles of the year based on factors such as:

• Innovation
• Comfort
• Design
• Safety
• Handling
• Driver satisfaction
• Value for the dollar

The Civic, which was also named North American Car of the Year in 2006, earned 203 points this year. (The Civic was also recently named the “Best Buy” Car of 2016 by Kelley Blue Book.)

Tony Swan, a co-founder of the award who reviews vehicles for various print and online publications, said of the winning car:

“I think the Civic is improved in every possible metric.”

The other two 2016 car finalists were:

• Chevrolet Malibu — 181 points
• Mazda MX-5 Miata — 146 points

The XC90, which Volvo describes as a luxury SUV, was also named North American Truck/Utility of the Year in 2003. It earned 310 points this year.

John Voelcker, an award juror and editor of Green Car Reports, said the winning SUV has an exterior that is modest but an interior that features cutting-edge “infotainment” features:

“I think it may have been one that people didn’t think would be as good as it turned out.”

The other truck/utility finalists were:

• Honda Pilot — 111 points
• Nissan Titan XD — 109 points

Are your surprised by these results? Let us know what you think about these vehicles by including your comments below or on Facebook.