Work Truck Logo
MenuMENU
SearchSEARCH

Ford and Chrysler Get Top Honors at Texas Truck Rodeo

SAN ANTONIO – The Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) hosts its annual Truck Rodeo every year. This year, the Detroit Three came away with a number of awards.

by Staff
October 25, 2011
2 min to read


SAN ANTONIO – The Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) hosts its annual Truck Rodeo every year.

Ad Loading...

Some of the notable wins include TAWA naming Ford’s F-150 the “Truck of Texas.” Ford also won top honors in seven other categories. TAWA named Ford’s EcoBoost engine technology the best vehicle feature. TAWA also named Ford as having the Truck Line of Texas for the 12th consecutive year.

Ad Loading...

TAWA named Chrysler's Jeep Grand Cherokee the SUV of Texas. The association named the Dodge Durango the Full-size SUV of Texas. In addition, the association named the Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Summit the Luxury SUV of Texas.

A total of 48 vehicles were entered in the rodeo. The 57 registered members of TAWA evaluated the vehicles. TAWA is one of the largest associations of auto writers in the U.S.

The list of winners is shown below:

  • Truck of Texas: 2012 Ford F-150.

  • Truck Line of Texas: 2012 Ford lineup of trucks.

  • Full-size Pickup Truck: First, 2012 Ford F-150; second, 2012 Ram 1500; third, Chevrolet 1500.

  • Heavy-Duty Pickup Truck: First, 2012 Ford F-250 King Ranch; second, 2012 Ram 2500 HD Power Wagon; third, 2012 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD.

  • Mid-size Pickup Truck: First, Nissan Frontier; second, 2012 Toyota Tacoma.

  • Luxury Pickup Truck: First, 2012 Ford F-150 Platinum; second, 2012 Ram 2500 HD Mega Cab Laramie Longhorn; third, 2012 GMC Sierra Denali 2500 HD.

  • Outstanding Feature of Texas: Ford EcoBoost engine technology.

  • SUV of Texas: Jeep Grand Cherokee.

  • Mid-size SUV: First, Jeep Wrangler Unlimited; second, Toyota 4Runner; third, Toyota FJ Cruiser.

  • Full-size SUV: First, Dodge Durango; second, Jeep Grand Cherokee; third, Chevrolet Tahoe.

  • Compact Vehicle of Texas: Ford Edge.

  • Compact SUV: First, Nissan Xterra; second, Jeep Compass; third, VW Tiguan.

Originally posted on Automotive Fleet

More Operations

Shades of Fleet “Family Ties” thumbnail with Lauren Fletcher, a family tree graphic, keys, and Work Truck branding.
Operationsby Lauren FletcherSeptember 15, 2026

Family Ties Inside the Fleet Families Building Careers Across Generations

Three fleet families share what it really takes to work together, learn across generations, and keep business from following them home.

Read More →
Shades of Fleet Hidden Heroes graphic featuring silhouetted dispatchers, coordinators, parts specialists, and support staff working across fleet operations, with a Share Your Story callout.
Operationsby Lauren FletcherSeptember 15, 2026

Shades of Fleet Call for Voices: Fleet's Hidden Heroes

Fleet’s hidden heroes are often the ones keeping everything moving behind the scenes. September’s Shades of Fleet is looking for dispatchers, coordinators, parts specialists, and other support pros to share their stories.

Read More →
Truck Centers Inc. graphic recognizing National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, Sept. 14–18, over an image of a semi-truck traveling along a rural highway beneath a cloudy sky.
Operationsby News/Media ReleaseSeptember 14, 2026

Truck Centers, Inc. Celebrates National Truck Driver Appreciation Week with $1,000 Fuel Card Giveaways

During National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, Truck Centers, Inc. is offering customers a chance to fuel up for free. Customers at all Truck Centers locations can enter to win one of four $1,000 fuel cards from Sept. 14 - 18.

Read More →
Ad Loading...
Lauren Fletcher appears in a Work Truck Weekly Truck Chat Cheat Sheet thumbnail with bold blue, black, white, and orange graphics. Text highlights fleet guides, AI, tariffs, and fuel strategy, with a semi-truck in the background.
Operationsby Lauren FletcherSeptember 14, 2026

Fleet Guides, AI Time-Savers, Truck Tariffs & Fuel Strategy Lead the News

This week’s Truck Chat Cheat Sheet covers new fleet vehicle guides, practical AI use cases, U.S.-Canada truck production, mixed-energy strategy, and more.

Read More →
Podcast cover for “The Fleet Skills We Keep Missing on Veterans’ Resumes” featuring a folded American flag, military dog tags, a resume listing leadership and adaptability skills, a wrench, and vehicle keys on a dark workbench.
OperationsSeptember 11, 2026

What Fleet Employers Are Missing When Hiring Veterans

What if some of the strongest candidates for fleet are already out there, but their experience is written in a language our industry does not always recognize?

Read More →
Graphic promoting Automotive Fleet's 2026 Personal Use Survey with the text "Have a Personal Use Policy? We Want to Know!" encouraging fleet managers to complete the annual industry survey.
Operationsby StaffSeptember 8, 2026

Automotive Fleet Opens 2026 Personal Use Survey for Commercial Fleet Managers

Less than two weeks left! Commercial and corporate fleet managers are invited to share how their organizations handle company vehicle personal-use policies, charges, and driver eligibility.

Read More →
Ad Loading...
Truck Chat promotional graphic featuring two hosts and the headline “Operate Fleet at the Speed of Business,” presented by Work Truck.
Operationsby Lauren FletcherSeptember 7, 2026

What Resilient Fleets Do Differently When Conditions Change

Fleet resilience is about more than reacting to disruption. Lauren Fletcher talks with AP Fleet’s Alex Coveney about flexibility, planning, scaling, and what helps fleets adapt when business conditions shift.

Read More →
View down the 996-foot Soap Box Derby track at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio, with grandstands, the starting structure, and a colorful Soap Box Derby sign in the foreground.
Operationsby Lauren FletcherSeptember 1, 2026

If We Want the Next Generation in Automotive, We Have to Give Them a Reason to Care

The automotive industry talks constantly about its workforce shortage. But before we can recruit the next generation, we may need to do a better job giving kids a reason to care about automotive in the first place.

Read More →
Work Truck Weekly Truck Chat Cheat Sheet thumbnail featuring Lauren Fletcher with blue hair and raised hands beside a work truck, with callouts for Ram under $40K, tariffs, and AI maintenance.
Operationsby Lauren FletcherAugust 31, 2026

Ram ProMaster City Under $40K, Truck Tariffs, and AI Maintenance Lead the News

A sub-$40K commercial van, tariff questions, AI-powered maintenance, and a new EV production strategy headline this week’s Truck Chat Cheat Sheet.

Read More →
Ad Loading...
Fleet Legends promotional graphic featuring Bob Adamsky in a suit beside bold black, white, and yellow text reading “Legends of Fleet,” with his name and the tagline “Decades of Leadership. Lessons That Last.”
Sponsoredby Lauren FletcherAugust 31, 2026

Bob Adamsky Shares the Fleet Lessons You Usually Learn the Hard Way

After more than 30 years in fleet, Arrow International’s Bob Adamsky has learned that the job is about far more than vehicles. He shares the lessons he wishes every fleet manager could learn a little earlier.

Read More →