1958 Thunderbird

COTY award

In 1949, Motor Trend became the first U.S. magazine to offer a Car of the Year award. For the next 50 years, it was handed out to domestic vehicles only (an Import Car of the Year category was established in 1970 and the two were combined for the 2000 award year).

As hindsight is inevitably 20/20, it’s easy to knock some of the past recipients, such as the 1971 Chevrolet Vega (with its engine block design that led to a history of head gasket failures), the 1980 Chevrolet Citation (that set a new standard in fwd-induced torque steer) and the 1983 AMC/Renault Alliance (which has been universally acknowledged to have been perhaps the magazine’s greatest faux pas).

But that being said, the Motor Trend Car of the Year award has also been bestowed on many of the most historically significant vehicles to grace our roads, including the 1958 Ford Thunderbird, the 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado, the 1968 Pontiac GTO, the 1985 Volkswagen GTI, the 1998 Chevrolet Corvette and the 2005 Chrysler 300.

2010 nominees

For 2010, there were 23 contenders for the Motor Trend COTY award. As usual, vehicle eligibility is determined by a totally new or substantial redesign and all vehicles must have been available for sale between now and November 1st of the previous year. The list for 2010 was comprised of the following vehicles:

BMW 7 Series
BMW Z4
Buick LaCrosse
Chevrolet Camaro
Ford Mustang
Ford Fusion
Ford Taurus /SHO
Honda Insight
Hyundai Genesis Coupe
Kia Forte Koup
Kia Soul
Lexus HS 250h
Mazda3
Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe
Mercedes-Benz E-Class Sedan
Nissan 370Z
Nissan Cube
Porsche Panamera
Subaru Legacy
Suzuki Kizashi
Toyota Prius
Volkswagen Golf /GTI
Volkswagen Routan

2010 Ford Fusion

In a first-ever live webcast event, Motor Trend announced this afternoon that the entire 2010 Ford Fusion model line had taken the honors for the 2010 Motor Trend Car of the Year.

“Ford has proven its resilience in these tough times by delivering to market a car with broad appeal to a broad range of consumers,” said Angus MacKenzie, MOTOR TREND editor-in-chief. “The Fusion range has matured into a competitive roster of midsize sedans, able to compete with sales juggernauts such as the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. It is no surprise the Fusion now ranks in the top 10 best-selling cars in America.”

Mark Fields, Angus MacKenzie, Derrick Kuzak

There to receive the award for Ford Motor Company was a plethora of executives from the company, including Mark Fields, executive vice president of the company and president, The Americas.

“The MOTOR TREND Car of the Year award is another testament of our commitment to delivering a world-class car lineup,” said Derrick Kuzak, group vice president, Ford Global Product Development, who accepted the golden calipers on behalf of the Ford team. “Whether it is the best-in-class fuel economy or quality unsurpassed by Toyota or Honda, the Fusion and Fusion Hybrid are clear evidence that Ford is serious about our car lineup.”

Here at LotPro.com we see that General Motors is once again dipping into the bin of nameplates past to come up with the moniker of its next mid-size sports sedan, the Buick Regal. The official announcement came at a meeting of Buick-GMC dealers this morning.

“The transformation of Buick began with our luxury crossover, the Buick Enclave and continued this year with the launch of the 2010 LaCrosse premium sedan,” said Susan Docherty, Buick GMC General Manager. “We’re thrilled to announce that the Regal will be the next member of the Buick family.”

The Regal nameplate

Originally introduced in 1973 as an upscale version of that year’s Century, the Regal was originally offered only as a hardtop coupe with rear opera windows (hey, it was the 70’s).

In 1978, the Regal was downsized and began its 9 year run (reign?) with the noteworthy option of a 3.8-liter turbocharged V-6 engine, making it one of only 2 turbocharged domestics (along with the Buick LeSabre) and one of only 4 turbocharged vehicles available in the U.S. (along with the Saab and the Porsche 930).

Third and fourth generation versions followed in 1988 and 1997, respectively, with the fourth generation Regal GS clocking a ¼ mile ET of 14.7 seconds from its 3.8-liter supercharged V-6 that produced 240 hp and 280 ft.-lb. of torque.

The General eighty-sixed the Regal in 2004 and it was replaced by the Buick LaCrosse in 2005. And although the brand has been famous for attracting the blue-haired crowd, it appears that these customers still remember the name since, according to the press release, it “continues to be one of the top Buick nameplates recalled by consumers even though it’s been out of the market for the past six years.”

The new Buick Regal

Unofficially, Bob Lutz confirmed to Scott Burgess of The Detroit News back in August that the new Regal will be the same vehicle (with minor cosmetic changes as reflected in the teaser photo) as the one that was launched in China in November of 2008, which is based on the same architecture as the Opel Insignia.

Hyundai Genesis

NACOTY and NATOTY awards

At LotPro.com, we normally have to wait for the short list of candidates to be released by Automotive News. This year, Marty Padgett of The Car Connection (and also a juror) was kind enough to reveal the list just a bit early.

Patterned after the European “Car of the Year” award, the North American awards were first given in 1994. The jury is composed of no more than 50 journalists from the United States and Canada. In order to be eligible for consideration, a vehicle must be “substantially changed” from the previous model and be on sale shortly after the announcement of the award in early January. In addition:

•    Cars must have reasonably foreseeable annual sales in North America of 5,000 vehicles.
•    Trucks must have reasonably foreseeable annual sales in North America of 2,000 vehicles.

Ford F-150

From the short list of vehicles you see here, the three finalists in each category are announced in December and the winners are unveiled at a press conference at the beginning of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit (although the show does not sponsor the awards in any way).

Award trivia: During the sixteen years of the car award, hybrids have been honored 4 times. Domestic automakers have garnered eight awards, Japanese automakers have won the award three times and European automakers have received the award four times (for Car of the Year), while 2009 marked the first year a Korean automaker was honored (the Hyundai Genesis for Car of the Year). In the Truck of the Year competition, domestic automakers have taken the award home 10 times (including the 2009 winner, the Ford F-150), Japanese automakers have won 4 times, while European automakers have won twice.

This year’s short list is comprised of the following vehicles:

Ford Taurus SHO

Car of the Year

BMW 335d
Buick LaCrosse
Cadillac CTS
Chevrolet Camaro
Ford Fusion/Fusion Hybrid
Ford Taurus
Honda Insight
Kia Soul
Mazda3/MazdaSpeed3
Mercedes-Benz E-Class
Porsche Panamera
Subaru Legacy
Suzuki Kizashi
Toyota Prius
Volkswagen Golf/GTI

Cadillac SRX

Truck of the Year

Acura ZDX
Audi Q5
Cadillac SRX
Chevrolet Equinox
Ford Transit Connect
Honda Crosstour
Land Rover LR4
Lincoln MKT
Subaru Outback
Volvo XC60

The four hours and forty-eight minutes of Le Mans

To say conditions at this year’s Petite Le Mans at Road Atlanta were horrendous would be an understatement. And while the duel between the Audi Sport Team Joest and Team Peugeot Sport was certainly evident in qualifying, many race fans were left to wonder who might’ve come out on top if the weather had been more forgiving and the cars had been allowed to complete the entire race.

Weather for the practice laps was marked by intense heat as the thermometer topped out at 85 degrees and extremely high humidity. On Wednesday, the first day of practice, the track surface had very little grip even in the early afternoon due to heavy rains the previous day. Audi suffered two mishaps in practice on Wednesday and Thursday as both Luhr and Werner put their R15 into the weeds which necessitated a new monocoque for the number 1 car on Wednesday night.

Other than a brake problem on their number 7 car in the early going, Peugeot encountered no such issues and, in fact, was able to test both cars with a combined equivalent of close to 1,000 miles.

Qualifying

Qualifying day saw air temperatures reach 91 degrees, while the temperature of the track surface was measure at 104 degrees. At the end of the day, Peugeot had both 908 HDi FAP cars on the front row with the number 7 car on the pole ahead of the number 8 car.

Audi, meanwhile, placed both R15 TDI’s in the second row, with the number 2 car in the third spot and the number 1 car in fourth, just 28 thousands of a second behind.

Race day

Not once in 11 years has the Petite Le Mans been run in such unfavorable conditions. The warm-up session had to be delayed due to rain and the cars were forced to line up on the grid immediately after only a few warm-up laps had been completed and for Audi, it only went downhill from there.

After dominating the race in the early going (McNish and Capello led for 163 of the first 168 laps), both Peugeots were able to get by the Audi under the yellow flag when McNish spun the Audi minutes after the two hour mark. Shortly thereafter, it began to rain in earnest and race officials parked the cars in pit lane.

The rain abated and the cars returned to the track, but this time there were no position changes between Audi and Peugeot. Then the rain returned and the race was red flagged for safety reasons at the 4 hour and 48 minute mark with the cars remaining in the starting block for nearly four hours waiting for a re-start that never happened.

Final Results

Here are the final results of the 2009 Petit Le Mans:

1. (2) Stephane Sarrazin, France; Franck Montagny, Brignoles France; Peugeot 908 HDI FAP (1, P1), 184.
2. (1) Pedro Lamy, Lisbon Portugal; Nicolas Minassian, England; Peugeot 908 HDI FAP (2, P1), 184.
3. (3) Allan McNish, Scotland; Rinaldo Capello, Italy; Audi R15 TDI (3, P1), 184.
4. (4) Marco Werner, Germany; Lucas Luhr, Germany; Audi R15 TDI (4, P1), 182.
5. (6) Nicolas Lapierre, France; Romain Dumas, France; Olivier Panis, France; Oreca 01 AIM (5, P1), 181.
6. (26) David Brabham, Australia; Dario Franchitti, Scotland; Scott Sharp, Jupiter, FL; Acura ARX-02a (6, P1), 180.
7. (28) Chris Dyson, Pleasant Valley, NY; Guy Smith, England; Lola B09 86 Mazda (7, P2*), 177.
8. (22) Jaime Melo, Brazil; Pierre Kaffer, Germany; Mika Salo, Finland; Ferrari F430 GT (1, GT2), 170.
9. (16) Tom Milner, Leesburg, VA; Dirk Mueller, Germany; Joerg Mueller, Germany; BMW E92 M3 (2, GT2), 169.
10. (21) Wolf Henzler, Germany; Dirk Werner, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (3, GT2), 169.
11. (15) Oliver Gavin, England; Olivier Beretta, Monaco; Marcel Fassler, Switzerland; Corvette C6.R (4, GT2), 169.
12. (18) Patrick Long, Oak Park, CA; Joerg Bergmeister, Germany; Marc Lieb, Germany; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (5, GT2), 169.
13. (8) Marino Franchitti, Scotland; Butch Leitzinger, State College, PA; Lola B09 86 Mazda (1, P2), 168.
14. (19) Johnny O’Connell, Flowery Branch, GA; Jan Magnussen, Denmark; Antonio Garcia, Spain; Corvette C6.R (6, GT2), 168.
15. (25) Seth Neiman, Burlingame, CA; Darren Law, Phoenix, AZ; Johannes van Overbeek, San Francisco, CA; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (7, GT2), 162.
16. (14) Tom Sutherland, Los Gatos, CA; Tomy Drissi, Hollywood, CA; Matt Bell, Los Altos, CA; Chevrolet Riley Corvette C6 (8, GT2), 157.
17. (7) Jon Field, Dublin, OH; Clint Field, Dublin, OH; Lola B06/10 AER (8, P1), 152.
18. (20) Ian James, England; Dominik Farnbacher, Germany; Panoz Esperante GTLM Ford (9, GT2), 152.
19. (12) Bryan Willman, Kirkland, WA; Tony Burgess, Canada; Chris McMurry, Phoenix, AZ; Lola B06/10 AER (9, P1), 144, Accident.
20. (13) David Murry, Cumming, GA; David Robertson, Ray, MI; Andrea Robertson, Ray, MI; Doran Ford GT MK 7 (10, GT2), 142.
21. (11) Luis Diaz, Mexico; Adrian Fernandez, Mexico; Acura ARX-01B (2, P2), 139.
22. (10) Klaus Graf, Germany; Sascha Maassen, Germany; Greg Pickett, Alamo, CA; Porsche RS Spyder (3, P2), 136.
23. (23) Bryan Sellers, Centerville, OH; Dominic Cicero, Portland, OR; Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (11, GT2), 136.
24. (5) Gil de Ferran, Brazil; Simon Pagenaud, France; Scott Dixon, New Zealand; Acura ARX-02a (10, P1), 136.
25. (17) Bill Auberlen, Hermosa Beach, CA; Joey Hand, Sacramento, CA; Andy Priaulx, Germany; BMW E92 M3 (12, GT2), 133.
26. (24) Joel Feinberg, Ft. Lauderdale, FL; Chris Hall, Daytona, FL; Dodge Viper Comp Coupe (13, GT2), 129.
27. (9) Jonny Cocker, UK; Robert Bell, UK; Paul Drayson, London, UK; Lola B09 60 Judd (11, P1), 123.
28. (27) Hideki Noda, Japan; Jose Manuel Balbiani, Argentina; Dion von Moltke, Coral Gables, FL; Radical SR9/AER (12, P1), 0.
29. (29) Adam Pecorari, Aston, PA; Gunnar Van der Steur, Chesapeake City, MD; Robbie Pecorari, Aston, PA; Radical SR9 AER (4, P2), 0.
30. (30) No drivers; Jaguar XK

All images courtesy of Audi of America

Just when you thought it might be safe

Katie bar the door! Porsche today announced the specifications for its latest 911 GT3 RS and they include more engine power, lower weight, revised transmission ratios and upgraded body and suspension components. All this and more will be available for public viewing at the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show beginning on September 17th.

More power

Taking a cue from Tim Allen’s famous “more power!” mantra, Porsche has decided that the RS version of the GT3 needed exactly that – 15 more than the GT3, to be precise, for a total of 450 horsepower. The naturally-aspirated engine now displaces a 911 GT3-matching 3.8-liters with a redline of 8,500 rpm and features an output of more than 118 horsepower per liter.

The six-cylinder boxer engine will be mated to an RS-exclusive six-speed manual gearbox with shorter ratios than the GT3 and optimized for short gearshift travel, trading off high-end speed for higher optimal performance.

Porsche’s dynamic engine mounts are standard, while an optional lithium-ion battery is available that will shed an additional 22 pounds for those drivers interested in optimal track performance.

New suspension

Speaking of performance, the new 911 GT3 RS will come with a purpose-built PASM (Porsche Adaptive Suspension Management) suspension with wider front and rear tracks and the requisite wheel arch extensions up front and lifted-from-the all-wheel-drive 911 rear quarters in back.

Handling stickiness will come courtesy of nine-inch-width wheels shod with 245/35 ZR 19 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires up front and twelve-inch-wide wheels sporting 325/30 ZR Michelins in back.

More goodies

Other highlights include a complete titanium exhaust system as well as a newly-engineered extra large carbon-fiber rear wing. With a starting price of $132,800, the new 911 GT3 RS will appear in dealer showrooms in the early spring of 2010.

New flagship

Details and a few selected images were handed out today on the new 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo that will make its debut at this year’s Frankfurt motor show in just over five weeks. Available in coupe and cabriolet body styles, the new 997 boasts a number of improvements.

3.8 liter flat-six

The new Turbo will come with the first entirely new engine in 35 years. The 3.8 liter flat-six boxer engine is rated at 500 horsepower – an increase of .2 liters and 20 horsepower from the current model. The new engine is fitted with Direct Fuel Injection (DFI), Porsche’s variable turbine geometry (VGT) for improved boost at lower revs and the company’s expansion intake manifold technology that first appeared on the GT2.

Sport Chrono

Checking off the Sport Chrono Package Turbo on the options list will add Porsche’s dynamic engine mounts that utilize a magnetic fluid that automatically adjusts for comfort or sport, depending on driving conditions as well as integrated steering wheel displays for sport/sport plus mode and launch control. As an added bonus, maximum torque is also increased by 15, to 516 lb.-ft.

Performance

When combined with the optional Porsche-Doppelkupplung (PDK) seven-speed transmission, which includes a three-spoke steering wheel and paddle shifters, the Sport Chrono Package Turbo will accelerate the new 911 from 0-60 in just 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 194 mph for both the Coupe and Cabriolet models. And yet even with all this muscle on tap, Porsche expects that this latest 911 will manage to avoid a gas-guzzler tax as the fuel economy, on the euro scale, has been measured at 24.1 mpg.

Panamera Gran Turismo

Porsche today announced that the Panamera Gran Turismo will debut at what certainly is one of the most prestigious celebrations of the automobile on the planet – Monterey Peninsula’s Classic Car Week.

Classic Car Week in Monterey, which this year will take place from August 9th through the 16th, will include the Quail, a Motorsports Gathering (that features vintage motorcycles), the iconic Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and the Monterey Historics, an annual event that takes place at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey.

Porsche events

For 2009, Porsche will be the featured marque at Monterey Historics, so it naturally follows that the company had more than a little reason (aside from California being its biggest market) to choose Monterey as the site for the North American debut of the Panamera.

“The exclusive automotive events that take place on the Monterey Peninsula this August are the perfect stage to roll out this extraordinary car,” said Detlev von Platen, President and CEO of Porsche Cars North America. “Our Panamera will feel right at home among both vintage and modern classics and will make quite a splash among the tens of thousands of true automobile enthusiasts there.”

In addition to the Panamera intro, Porsche will also be one of the sponsors of the Quail, while the nearby Quail Lodge will play host not only to the Motorsports Gathering but will also be the backdrop to the Porsche Experience Center where various VIP’s will be able to test drive not only Stuttgart’s Panamera, but various other models from Porsche, as well.

One more thing

In addition to the being the featured marque at the 36th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races (where Porsche will bring a number of rare historic race cars including the Formula One and Two cars) as well as a sponsor of the Pebble Beach Concours and the Quail gig, Pebble Beach has, for the very first time, introduced a Porsche category on the grounds of the 18th fairway.

All photos courtesy Porsche Cars North America

Third time a charm

At LotPro.com we see that, for Peugeot, 2009 was payback time for two previous years filled with frustration as the French manufacturer was finally able to solve the teething problems that had plagued the 908 HDi FAP in both 2007 and 2008.

This year’s qualifying worked right into the hands of Peugeot with the battle-tested and tweaked 908. Audi, on the other hand, found very little time to dial in the new Audi R 15 TDI. With only Wednesday evening’s free practice (in the rain), the Germans were forced to do much of their sorting out during qualifying on Thursday.

Still, Audi managed to grid the three R 15’s in rows 1, 3 and 4, while Peugeot was able to place one car in each of the first 3 rows.

Early on

At the start, the No. 8 Peugeot came through the first corner ahead of the No. 1 Audi, while the No. 7 Peugeot passed the same Audi just a few minutes later. On lap 2 the No. 9 Peugeot passed the best-placed Audi and, just like that, Peugeot found itself 1-2-3 less than 5 minutes into the race.

Its first pit stop resulted in a mishap when the No. 7 Peugeot was damaged exiting the pit area (due to a communications misunderstanding with the Pescarolo-run Peugeot No. 17) and it had to complete a lap before re-entering the pits. At the end of the third hour, No. 8 and No. 9 Peugeots were running 1-2.

By the sixth hour, the No. 8 Peugeot was forced to pit with a mechanical problem, but the No. 9 Peugeot was 41 seconds ahead of the No. 1 Audi and one lap up on the No. 2 Audi with the No. 8 Peugeot 2 laps down and the No. 7 Peugeot 6 laps down. A half hour later, the No. 2 Audi was forced to retire after it slammed backwards into the tire wall at the Porsche Curves and it began to lose oil.

Halfway and more – and no rain

By the halfway point, the No. 7 Peugeot that had been involved in the pit-lane tangle had moved from 51st place back to 7th overall, while the top three spots were occupied by the No. 9 Peugeot, the No. 1 Audi and the No. 8 Peugeot, respectively.

By the 18th hour, Peugeot was clearly showing its superiority in speed. Peugeots No. 9 and No. 8 occupied the top two spots, separated by a minute and thirty-six, with the No. 1 Audi in third, two laps behind.

The Finish

At the end of the race, the No. 9 and No. 8 Peugeots were 1-2, with the No. 8 car officially finishing 1 lap down. The No. 1 Audi finished in third, 6 laps down from the winner, while the No. 7 Peugeot finished in 6th place.

This year’s win marked the first since 1993 for Peugeot and, except for a short time early in the race, it lead from start to finish (initially with the No. 8 car and then with the No. 9 car which lead the race from just ahead of the five hour mark).

Note: all photos courtesy of Peugeot and Audi

24 Hours of Le Mans

At LotPro.com we know that for NASCAR fans it’s Daytona; for the followers of open-wheel racing here in the States it’s the Indy 500, and for Formula 1 devotees it’s Monte Carlo (and maybe a PETA poster featuring Bernie’s middle daughter).

But for those who are enamored of endurance racing, the 24 Hours of Le Mans is the absolute benchmark. The inaugural race took place on May 26th and 27 in 1923 and the race has been run annually since then (with a cancellation in 1936 due to the depression and from 1940 to 1948 due to World War II).

The race normally takes place the second weekend in June with practice and qualifying sessions occurring on the Wednesday and Thursday prior to race weekend.

Classification

Although the waving of the French tricolor still signals the start of the race, a number of things have changed in the ensuing years. For one, drivers no longer run across the track and start their cars before the race begins (the original start led Porsche to locate the ignition switch to the left of the steering wheel so that drivers could both start and put the transmission into gear at the same time).

Another change has been in the classification of the race cars. The top two classes consist of Le Mans Prototypes (LMP) that are divided into LMP1 and LMP2 classes based on horsepower, weight and speed. The next two classes consist of production-based vehicles in the grand tourer (GT) class that is also split and classified by weight, speed and horsepower into GT1 and GT2.

2008: there is no second place

Audi has clearly dominated Le Mans for nearly ten years beginning in 1999 when the R8s finished in third and fourth place. In 2000, 2002 and 2004, the R8’s finished 1-2-3. In 2002 they finished 1-2, 2005 saw a 1-3-4 finish, and 2007 saw a single podium finish, albeit in first place. The lone year that Audi was unsuccessful in placing first was in 2003, when the factory failed to field a team (a privateer team campaigning an R8 finished third).

Beginning in 2007, French manufacturer Peugeot began to make some inroads on Audi’s dominance which by this time consisted of the formidable R10 TDI diesel-powered LMP1.For in 2007, the Peugeot 908 HDi placed second behind the Audi R10 (although it was 10 laps down at the finish).

In 2008, Peugeot certainly had its best chance, ever, to unseat Audi. Previous races that year had shown the 908 to be clearly superior in horsepower and for the first time in nearly a decade Audi found itself the underdog. Following qualifications, Peugeot found itself in the top three places on the starting grid and even led 1-2-3 after two hours.

Things started to unravel for the team shortly after that as two of the cars went down during the third hour with electrical problems. Peugeot and Audi swapped the lead position in both the fourth hour with Audi taking the lead during a Peugeot fuel stop and Peugeot regaining it in the fifth hour with the No. 7 Peugeot 908 overtaking the No. 2 Audi car.

And then came the rain.

The Peugeot cars began having issues with the traction control system and this, coupled with their radiator issues (which were becoming soiled and led to engine performance issues) eventually led to their downfall.

The final results: Audi finished 1st, 4th and 6th while Peugeot finished 2nd (on the same lap as the lead Audi), 3rd and 5th.

2009

This year, for the first time in its modern history, teams at Le Mans had just one qualifying session to claim a place on the starting grid as the preliminary test day was cancelled. Wednesday evening’s free practice was also subject to wet conditions which meant that this year’s teams still had more than a bit of sorting out to do during the qualifying session on Thursday.

As it stands now, Peugeot has one car in each of the first 3 rows (1, 3 and 5), while the Audis, with the new Audi R15 TDI, find themselves in rows 1, 3 and 4 (in positions 2, 6 and 7).

Peugeot has taken the intervening 12 months to address the issues of the traction control system, radiator soiling and, with the help of Michelin, optimizing the tires as well as improving wheel-centering for the mechanics in order to decrease the time spent in the pits.

Stay Tuned

The race will begin at 3:00 pm on Saturday (10:00 EDT). Audi will cover the race both on Facebook (fb.audir15tdi.com) and Twitter (tw.audir15tdi.com) and we will have the results for you here at LotPro.com next week.

Cadillac and Hyundai biggest winners

Here at LotPro.com, we see where AutoPacific today released its 13th annual Vehicle Satisfaction Awards (VSA) based on the results of a national survey of over 25,000 new vehicle owners and lessees.

Hyundai Genesis

Noting that the current survey was conducted “in the most challenging auto sales market in years,” the company also announced that “even with the turmoil surrounding General Motors,” Cadillac, for the second year in a row, ranked highest with new car owners and took the Highest Satisfaction Brand award.

Another bright spot in the survey was Hyundai, which climbed 11 places in the overall standings, more than any other manufacturer in the survey, earning itself the Rising Star award for 2009. Not only did the company score more points in 40 of 48 rating categories over last year’s results, two of the Korean manufacturer’s models garnered VSA awards this year in their respective categories – the Genesis for Aspirational Luxury Car and the Sonata in the Premium Mid-size car category.

“These are difficult times, with news of automaker bankruptcies, companies restructuring and dealer closures a daily occurrence,” says George Peterson, president of AutoPacific. “Clearly, the dynamics surrounding the Vehicle Satisfaction Award in 2009 are far different from anything we’ve seen in many years. Winners needed to overachieve to earn their awards.”

Honda Fit Sport

Award Winners

The survey focused on buyers of new vehicles that either purchased or leased them during the fourth quarter of 2008 – just as the economic downturn was pummeling the auto industry.

Although the complete list of winners is listed below, it should also be noted that the vehicle that registered the highest overall satisfaction for the reporting period was the Lexus LS – scoring 99 points above the industry average. The highest scoring truck, the Cadillac Escalade, also contributed mightily to that brand’s overall win.

2010 Ford Fusion

Multiple award winners included Toyota with 6 (including 2 for Lexus and 1 for Scion), Ford with 4, (including 1 for the Lincoln brand), Hyundai/Kia with 3 (2 for Hyundai, 1 for Kia) , Chrysler with 2 (1 for the Dodge brand and 1 for its Jeep division) and General Motors with 2 (1 for Cadillac and 1 for its Chevrolet brand).

Other manufacturers on the list are Honda, Land Rover, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Porsche and VW.

2009 Dodge Ram

Highest Satisfaction as a Brand: Cadillac

2009 Rising Star: Hyundai

Passenger Car Categories and Winners:

Premium Luxury Car               Lexus LS
Aspirational Luxury Car          Hyundai Genesis
Luxury Large Car                     Lincoln Town Car
Luxury Mid-Size Car                Lexus ES
Premium Mid-Size Car             Hyundai Sonata
Mid-Size Car                              Ford Fusion
Image Compact Car                  Toyota Prius
Compact Car                               Mitsubishi Lancer
Economy Car                              Honda Fit
Sports Car                                   Porsche 911
Sporty Car                                   Scion tC

Light Truck Categories and Winners:

Large Pickup                                     Dodge Ram 1500
Compact Pickup                                Ford Explorer Sport Trac
Luxury Sport Utility                        Cadillac Escalade
Large Sport Utility                           Chevrolet Tahoe
Premium Mid-Size Sport Utility    Ford Explorer
Mid-Size Sport Utility                      Jeep Liberty
Luxury Crossover SUV                    Land Rover LR2
Large Crossover SUV                       Mazda CX-9
Premium Mid-Size Crossover SUV Toyota Venza
Mid-Size Crossover SUV                  Volkswagen Tiguan
Compact Crossover SUV                  Kia Sportage
Minivan                                               Toyota Sienna