2010 International Car & Truck of the Year Announced During Los Angeles Auto Show Press Week

Los Angeles,CA December 2, 2009; The 14th Annual International Car of the Year Awards (ICOTY) jury announced today the winners for the 2010 International Car and Truck of the Year. After thirteen years in Detroit, the 2010 ICOTY presentation was moved to the Los Angeles Auto Show where trophies were presented to winning automaker's at their displays.

Recipients of the awards were selected by The ICOTY jury, a group of 19 nationally-renowned automotive journalists and editors. Courtney Caldwell, editor-in-chief of Road & Travel Magazine, Kevin Smith, editorial director for Edmunds.com, and James Bell, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book, represented the ICOTY jury and presented winners with their awards. Top honors went to:

International Car of the Year 2010 Ford Taurus

International Truck of the Year 2010 Volvo XC60

The award for International Truck of the Year was accepted by Mr. Doug Speck, President and CEO of Volvo Cars of North America. Accepting the award for International Car of the Year on behalf of Ford Motor Company was Ms. Pei-Wen Hsu, Taurus Marketing Manager.

"The ICOTY Awards are not about power and performance, but rather personality and passion," said ICOTY Executive Producer Courtney Caldwell. "The awards are based on lifestyle compatibility and how well automakers achieve that goal."

About the ICOTY Awards:

The ICOTY Awards were founded in 1996 by Courtney Caldwell, editor-in-chief of Road & Travel Magazine. Its unique theme was created to celebrate the emotional connection between car and consumer and recognize the automakers that most successfully accomplish that goal through the design and marketing of their vehicles. Today, many automakers use the 'emotional connection' theme in marketing and advertising campaigns.