Motor Trend names redesigned Toyota Camry as 2007 Car of the Year
Toyota Wins with "America's Mainstream Car"
LOS ANGELES, CA (November 22, 2006) -- Motor Trend ([Only registered and activated users can see links. ], the world's automotive authority and part of PRIMEDIA's (NYSE: PRM) Consumer Automotive Group, announced today that the redesigned Toyota Camry, the sixth edition of America's best-selling car, is Motor Trend's 2007 Car of the Year. The award goes to the entire Camry range, including the Camry Hybrid. The complete report on Motor Trend's 2007 Car of the Year will be published in the January issue, available on newsstands December 5, 2006.
"Creating an innovative, engaging automobile with broad mainstream appeal is one of the toughest tasks facing any automaker," said Angus MacKenzie, editor in chief of Motor Trend. "The Camry is the one car rival automakers all wish they could build. It offers something for nearly everyone--performance, efficiency, and roominess--at a price point most Americans can afford."
MacKenzie added, "Toyota offers the Camry with a regular four cylinder engine, or a sporty V-6 that enables it to hit 60 mph in just six seconds - that's about as fast as a V-8 musclecar from the '60s and '70s. Buyers looking for ultimate fuel economy can choose the Camry Hybrid, which uses the same innovative hybrid powertrain technology as Toyota's Prius to save gas."
The 2007 Field of Contenders
The Toyota Camry bested a field of 27 competitors, comprising six models from the U.S., 10 from Japan, five from Korea, four from Germany, one from the U.K., and one from Sweden.
To be eligible for Car of the Year, a vehicle must be totally new or redesigned, and released in the 12 months prior to January 1, 2007 (cars with modifications such as new engines or that are variants of existing models are not eligible).
This year's field of contenders for Car of the Year included:
Chevrolet Aveo, Chrysler Sebring, Dodge Caliber, Honda Fit, Hyundai Elantra, Hyundai Entourage, Infiniti G35, Jaguar XK, Jeep Compass, Kia Optima, Kia Rondo, Kia Sedona, Lexus ES 350, Lexus LS 460, Mercedes Benz S-Class, Nissan Altima, Nissan Sentra, Nissan Versa, Porsche Cayman, Saturn Aura, Saturn Sky Redline, Suzuki SX4, Toyota Camry, Toyota Yaris, Volvo C70 T5, Volkswagen EOS, and Volkswagen Rabbit
America's Best-Selling Car
MacKenzie went on to say that Toyota, which is celebrating its second Car of the Year award in four years (it won 2004 COTY for the Prius), has achieved something remarkable at a time when the competition has never been so fierce and the marketplace so diversified.
"It is difficult to do a mainstream car well, but Toyota has succeeded beyond anyone's expectations in creating the 21st century American family sedan. The Camry is a car designed for, and made in, America, with American tastes in mind, and it is now on track to become the first car in nearly three decades to sell 450,000 units in a single year in the United States. The 2007 Camry is the exemplar of not only building the right car, but building it the right way."
"We should add that the Camry won in a very strong field. There have never been more choices available to American car buyers. That is a fact of life in the 21st century."
Toyota may have a winner (again) on the new Camry. It's sister in Australia, the Aurion (an Australianized Avalon/Asian Camry), has also won the 2007 Best Large Car Category in Australia's Best Cars ([Only registered and activated users can see links. ]. This is significant because unlike other awards, this is done by Australia's auto clubs and not by car magazines. The win is also significant because Toyota beat Holden's newe model hero car Commodore. I guess the 'RWD is better than FWD' argument that Holden and Ford keeps touting for their large cars aren't getting much notice like they used to.
The win of midsize cars in the last two car-of-the-year awards reflects the fact that the panel is mostly made up of enthusiasts.
They've voted partially with value-for-money in mind, but they're very particular in terms of driving fun, handling and ride comfort.
Thus, see who's been in the winner's circle... the Lynx RS, the Ford Ranger, the Honda Accord V6 (overall), the Mazda 6 2.3 (overall)... all cars which are acknowledged to be exciting drives, or at least, more fun to drive than the competition.
The new Camry may be fast, but if the test venue is a small course like last time, the twists and bends might tip the odds in another car's favor.
RE: Motor Trend Car of The Year
or: how big are your pockets?
While they've had some great cars as COTY, their choice isn't always logical... or good... there are some turds that have slipped into the winner's circle in the past:
2002 Ford Thunderbird
Based on the Lincoln LS, so it should have been good... instead, it was slow, had mad cowl-shake and merely okay handling, and bombed after a short period of good sales... like the PT Cruiser, it was mostly good looks and not much else. 2002? Wow, thought it was older, considering it's been dead for two or three years already...
2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser
Can you say "All dressed up and nothing else to show?" It's a decent car, but there are much better cars out there.
1975 Chevrolet Monza 2+2
Honestly... we owned one of these... how it made car of the year, I'll never know... it looked sporty, but the engine (2.3 liters, 80 hp. No kidding) and underchassis were pure crap! Did I mention I almost fell out of it when the door latch failed while we were climbing up to the Binan tollgate when I was a kid? The 1.3 Ford Laser we had afterwards was better... And faster, too!
1971 Chevrolet Vega
Predecessor of the Monza, had the same crappy engine... listed by Forbes Magazine as one of the Worst Cars of All Time
There may be others that are worse, but these I'm sure of... ...still believe in Motor Trend? While the BMW-humping ribs on Car And Driver are mostly sour-grapes (still have issues with their idiotic math in comparo scoring)... Motor Trend's Car-of-the-Year choices seem to be more marketing driven than anything else.
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Depends on which manufacturer has the best catering service and the most giveaways.
pls. research before giving out these kinds of posts:
1.) COTY-P IS independent and is not asking for solicitation from manufacturers to eliminate brand bias. If you will read the PR's correctly walang nakalagay dun na sponsor ang Toyota, Mitsu, etc.
2.) Butch Gamboa is not part of COTY-P. He has his own group, SPMJ (Society of Phil. Motoring Journalists), which sponsors the annual Automobile of the Year via text voting. This is not in any way connected to COTY-P as they do instrumented (quantitative) and qualitative testing.
pls. research before giving out these kinds of posts:
1.) COTY-P IS independent and is not asking for solicitation from manufacturers to eliminate brand bias. If you will read the PR's correctly walang nakalagay dun na sponsor ang Toyota, Mitsu, etc.
2.) Butch Gamboa is not part of COTY-P. He has his own group, SPMJ (Society of Phil. Motoring Journalists), which sponsors the annual Automobile of the Year via text voting. This is not in any way connected to COTY-P as they do instrumented (quantitative) and qualitative testing.
pls. research before giving out these kinds of posts:
1.) COTY-P IS independent and is not asking for solicitation from manufacturers to eliminate brand bias. If you will read the PR's correctly walang nakalagay dun na sponsor ang Toyota, Mitsu, etc.
2.) Butch Gamboa is not part of COTY-P. He has his own group, SPMJ (Society of Phil. Motoring Journalists), which sponsors the annual Automobile of the Year via text voting. This is not in any way connected to COTY-P as they do instrumented (quantitative) and qualitative testing.
Camry '07 - Coty!!!
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Re: Camry '07 - Coty!!!
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