Back in December, I wrote about the nominees for the North American Car of the Year Awards, chosen by a 50 panel jury consisting of automotive journalists from the United States and Canada. Over the weekend – and with much anticipation – votes were tallied and numbers were crunched. On Sunday, the winners were finally announced at a news conference held at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

That said (and without further adieu), here your winners:

Car of the Year: Hyundai Genesis
Truck of the Year: Ford F-150

This win by Ford marks the fifth time the automaker has taken home the North American Truck of the Year award and the third win for the F-150 (previous winners were the Ford Expedition and Ford Escape Hybrid). Last year, the North American Car of the Year Award went to the Chevrolet Malibu, while the North American Truck of the Year was awarded to the Mazda CX-9.

According to the official website, in order for vehicles to be eligible, they must be “all-new” or “substantially changed” from the previous model. This year the jury considered more than fifty 2009 vehicles and settled on 14 cars and 11 trucks that they believed to be ballot worthy:

• Audi A4
• BMW 1 Series
• Cadillac CTS-V
• Dodge Challenger
• Ford Flex
• Honda Fit
• Hyundai Genesis
• Jaguar XF
• Lincoln MKS
• Mazda 6
• Nissan GT-R
• Pontiac G8
• Toyota Venza
• Volkswagen Jetta TDI
• BMW X6
• Chevrolet Traverse
• Dodge Ram
• Ford F-150
• Honda Pilot
• Infiniti FX35/50
• Kia Borrego
• Mercedes-Benz ML320 BlueTEC
• Nissan Murano
• Subaru Forester
• Volkswagen Tiguan

In December the top three cars and trucks were chosen and the Ford Flex, Hyundai Genesis, Volkswagen Jetta TDI, Dodge Ram, the Ford F-150 and the Mercedes-Benz ML320 BlueTEC all made the short list.  On Sunday, the Genesis was announced as the top vote getter, receiving 189 points, inching out the Ford Flex by only 9 votes, while the Jetta TDI received 131.

Other facts about the North American Car of the Year awards:

• Hybrids have been honored twice.
• Domestic automakers have won North American Car of the Year eight times.
• Japanese automakers have won the North American Car of the Year three times.
• European automakers have won the North American Car of the Year four times.
• A Korean automaker has never won.
• Domestic automakers have won the North American Truck of the Year nine times.
• Japanese automakers have won the North American Truck of the Year four times.
• European automakers have won the North American Truck of the Year twice.

Those who know were aware that I was seriously pulling for the Jetta TDI I thought it had a great chance of walking away with top honors, so I’m a little disappointed at the outcome.  As for the truck category, we’ve always been Chevy owners when it’s come to our work horses, so of course, I was keeping my fingers crossed that the Chevrolet Traverse would inch out the Ford F-150, even though I knew going in that it was going to be a long shot Ford trucks are always big winners when it comes to these awards.

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