Chevrolet Wins Motor Trend Awards For 2016 Car, Truck Of The Year
DETROIT (WWJ) - Chevrolet has swept the 2016 Motor Trend Car and Truck of the Year awards at the LA Auto Show.
The Chevy Camaro and the Chevy Colorado took top honors. It's the Camaro's second straight win. Judges say their votes were based on six key criteria: advancement in design, engineering excellence, safety, efficiency, value, and performance of intended function.
Fifteen all-new or significantly updated cars were eligible for Car of the Year award. After a week of instrumented testing at Hyundai's California Proving Grounds, seven finalists were selected: Audi TT, BMW 7 Series, Chevrolet Camaro, Honda Civic, Mazda MX-5 Miata, Mercedes-Benz GT S, and Toyota Mirai. These vehicles were then subjected to hundreds of miles of real-world road loops before nine judges voted the all-new Camaro as Car of the Year.
Based on General Motor's stellar Alpha platform architecture, the completely redesigned sixth-generation Camaro is sharper looking inside and out and has the latest in technology, including Apple CarPlay and 4G LTE Wi-Fi. It's a car built for driving enthusiasts, one that is hundreds of pounds lighter than the previous generation and available with a new, high-tech, turbocharged 275-horsepower four-cylinder engine, a sporty, yet fuel-efficient 335-horsepower V-6, or a blistering 455-horsepower V-8. Motor Trend described the Camaro as "one of the finest driving vehicles in the world at any price.
Meantime, after a week of on-road and off-road evaluation, plus instrumented testing with payloads and trailers attached, judges named the Chevrolet Colorado the Truck of the Year for the second year in a row. The 2016 Colorado stood out from a field of six finalists for its effortless performance in every towing, payload, and driving test the judges threw its way. Even when loaded with hundreds of pounds of payload, towing thousands of pounds, or climbing steep grades, the Colorado felt calm and relaxed.
For 2016, the Colorado features an optional class-exclusive 2.8-liter inline-four Duramax diesel, which gives it best-in-class towing of 7,700 pounds and phenomenal fuel economy; 31 mpg highway according to the EPA test cycle.
The award for SUV of the Year went to the Volvo XC90.
You can see all the vehicles in January at the North American International Auto Show here in Detroit.