Ford Hybrid, Chrysler 300 Win Vehicles of the Year
Ford and Chrysler steal the spotlight in Detroit.
DETROIT – The Ford Escape Hybrid and the Chrysler 300 won the North American Truck and Car of the Year awards at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The award for the Ford Escape Hybrid acknowledges the strive to reduce emissions and improve fuel economy by the Ford Motor Co, and the time spent developing the first SUV to use a gasoline-electric drivetrain.
The Escape hybrid is "the first, and a very successful, merger of two trends, America's continuing thirst for SUVs and its growing awareness of the goodness of hybrids," wrote juror Mat Naumann of the San Jose Mercury News.
The award comes as one of many as the Chrysler 300 cleaned up this year. The car also won the Detroit Free Press Car of the Year award. "See it in the metal, and it's like the Green Hornet with a makeover," wrote juror Howard Walker of the St. Petersburg Times.
On hand to select the winners out of all the cars and trucks were 48 journalists from the United States and Canada.
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