2013 North American Car and Truck of the Year Finalists: Which Ones Do You Think Will Win?

Last year, Ford, with its Focus, was the sole U.S. manufacturer included in the final list for the North American Car and Truck of the Year award and it finished in third place, behind the VW Passat and the winner, Hyundai’s Elantra.

Even more surprising was the truck class where the Range Rover Evoque beat the Honda CR-V and the BMW X3. Where is this world coming to if U.S. manufacturers can’t build an SUV or truck to make an impression in their own market?

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Mazda CX-5 Beats Toyota GT86/Subaru BRZ, Wins Japan Car of the Year Award

With less than a month remaining until the end of the year, all kinds of “Car of the Year” awards will inadvertently start to pop up. Some, of course, are much more important than others are; and the Japan COTY title belongs to the former category. In 2011, the winner was the Nissan Leaf, which had also been awarded the World and European COTY titles.

This year, Mazda won the crown with its CX-5 compact crossover getting 363 votes, 45 more than the second-placed Toyota GT86/Subaru BRZ “twins”. BMW’s 3-Series was third, while it’s interesting to note that the top 10 was evenly split between Japanese and European models.

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New Mazda6, 2014 CX-5, Facelifted 2013 CX-9 and Global Motorsports Premiere Coming to LA

Mazda is the next carmaker to confirm its North American and global debuts for the LA Auto Show that runs for the public from November 30 to December 9, 2012.

While not a world premiere, the star of the Japanese brand's booth will no doubt be the all-new Mazda6 mid-size sedan, which in the U.S., will launch in January 2013 with a new SKYACTIV-G 2.5-liter gasoline engine and a number of fresh technologies.

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Mazda Brings 3 Concept Versions of CX-5 Crossover to SEMA Including a Diesel Variant

With the 2012 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in full swing, Mazda lifted the wraps off three new concept versions of its CX-5 compact crossover to demonstrate the personalization choices owners have, and in one case, to highlight the diesel option that may soon be available in North America.

We will start with the latter that is named after actor and Mazda racecar driver Patrick Dempsey and which uses the Japanese brand's European-specification SKYACTIV-D 2.2-liter clean diesel engine to power the all-wheel-drive system through a six-speed manual gearbox.

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