Car and Driver Releases Annual 10 Best List

General Motors Makes Strong Showing with Three Cars, Other Domestic Carmakers Drop off of List for 2008

ANN ARBOR, MI - December 3, 2007: Car and Driver magazine announced today the winners of the 26th annual 10Best cars sold in America. Winners will be featured in the January 2008 issue of Car and Driver, which will be on newsstands December 4, 2007.

The following are the 2008 "10Best" winners (in alphabetical order), followed by the number of times each model has made the list:

-- BMW 3-Series (17) -- Cadillac CTS (1) -- Chevrolet Corvette (14) -- Chevrolet Malibu (1) -- Honda Accord (22) -- Honda Fit (2) -- Mazda MX-5 (9) -- Mazdaspeed 3 (2) -- Porsche Boxster/Cayman (9) -- Volkswagen GTI (3)* *Award is for GTI model only

While eight vehicles on the list are repeats from last year, three General Motors models made the list for 2008, making General Motors the only American manufacturer to make the 10Best list this year. Two of the three models, the Chevrolet Malibu and the Cadillac CTS, are new to the 10Best list, and the significantly upgraded Corvette appears again for its 17th time. Although Chrysler and Infiniti did not return to the list this year, many familiar nameplates retained their place on the list. The BMW 3-Series, Chevrolet Corvette, Honda Fit, Mazda MX-5, Mazdaspeed, Porsche Boxster and Volkswagen GTI all are making repeat appearances.

The Honda Accord also returned to the list, for a record 22nd time, but with a brand new Accord that is completely different than last year's model. Following the Accord, the BMW 3-Series and the Chevrolet Corvette are the next most frequent winners of 10Best honors with 17 and 14 appearances, respectively.

"The increased competition between domestic and foreign manufacturers has created a tougher annual contest, but the eight repeat winners deserve accolades for continuing to deliver outstanding quality, performance, value and driver satisfaction," said Csaba Csere, editor-in-chief of Car and Driver.

"Last year, we saw a return of the small car to the list," Csere said. "This year, the strong showing by General Motors proves that the company's stable management and consistent strategy is really starting to pay off. For the new Chevy Malibu to make our list demonstrates that, for the first time in about twenty years, GM can compete with the likes of Toyota and Honda in the important family sedan segment."

During the 26-year history of the 10Best awards, imports have accounted for more than 50 percent of the winners. From 2005 - 2006 domestics accounted for 4 and 3 of the spots respectively, but in 2007, new introductions by Honda and Mazda pushed imports to again take eight of the 10 awards. This year, General Motors alone takes three out of the 10 awards.

A panel of 12 Car and Driver editors determined the winners by rating them on a scale of 1 to 100 with a focus on functional performance, driving satisfaction and value. Vehicles considered for the award must be available in the U.S. by January 2008 and must be priced below the cap of $70,000, or 2.5 times the average transaction price as of summer 2007. In addition, manufacturers must provide a vehicle for testing by Car and Driver staff.

Vehicles that won the previous years' honor are re-nominated if they are still available under the price cap. The judges then identify new or substantially upgraded cars for the current year to get a pool of finalists.

In the quarter of a century, only four nameplates have double-digit wins; they are the Honda Accord, BMW 3-Series, Chevrolet Corvette and Honda Prelude. Since the contest's inception, the three manufacturers with the most wins are Honda (60), Ford (27), and BMW and General Motors (24 each).

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