North American Car and Truck of the Year Finalists Announced at the Automotive Press Association in Detroit

Legendary Auto Designer Ed Welburn Showing His Newly Designed North American Car and Truck of the Year Awards (NACTOY) Trophy (Photo by Bob Benko)

By Martha Hindes
Senior Editor
The Auto Channel
Michigan Bureau

And the winners are ....

If good things come in threes, you could call it a win, win, win day in Detroit Tuesday. That's when the Automotive Press Association released finalists in three vehicle categories for North American Car and Truck of the Year awards (NACTOY).

This is the 24th consecutive time the prestigious awards are on the judging block at Detroit's North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). That's the kickoff event in January that starts the global motor show calendar for 2017

This year's finalists -- including sport utilities added as a new award category -- are the Chevrolet Bolt EV, Genesis G90 and Volvo S90 for cars, Ford's F series Super Duty, Honda Ridgeline and Nissan Titan for trucks, and Chrysler Pacifica, Jaguar F-Pace and Mazda CX-9 for sport utilities.

But the multiple wins also extend to non-vehicle highlights. For the first time there is a tangible prize that winners can use for bragging rights, rather like an automotive version of the famed Oscar statuette synonymous with Hollywood's Academy Awards for motion pictures. The weighty, sleek, silver colored trophy was the vision of Ed Welburn, who retired last June as General Motors Company's design vice president.

Welburn, wooed to do the trophy by APA, said he got his initial inspiration laying on a beach shortly after his retirement, perhaps inspired by the lapping of sunlit waves. The award with a long, bold hood, overly large sculpted wheels and boat tailed rear also seems obviously inspired by some historical vehicles dating back to the late 1930s when Duesenbergs, Packards and Cords parted the auto herd on the road with their strong, massive lines, intimidating presences and high horsepower. Just the look and feel of the trophy should have aficionados longing for the days when cars were king for their mere presence as well as entrants into an evolving, exciting vehicle future. Welburn said; "I was inspired by the form and its confidence and the whole dramatic presence that award has," former GM design director Ed Welburn said. "Simply put, if Oscar was a car, this would be that car."

Welburn’s design was transferred from sketch to reality by Don Sommers, longtime collector and vehicle restorer in suburban Detroit. Sommers is one of the founders of the prestigious Meadow Brook Concours d’Elegance and owner of American Arrow Company specializing in reproducing classic car hood ornaments.

The awards are "all about building brands," said Mike Martini, of NAIAS ongoing sponsor Bridgestone, as the industry continues to expand beyond motor vehicles into electric vehicles, driverless cars and an uncharted future.

The third win is a lifetime scholarship given by APA, a 25-year-old organization of automotive journalists and other communicators and industry professionals. The organization presented a check for $50,000 in memory of longtime auto journalist and APA member Al Vinikour who passed away in 2016. It kicked off a continuing automobile journalism scholarship at Wayne State University in Detroit.