Honda Dominates Canadian Auto Journalist Awards with Best Car and Truck of the Year

Whats the Canadian International Auto Show? Held in Toronto, Ontario,its much like other also-ran auto shows around the U.S. More or less, it brings together the best vehicles of the past year and highlights some of next years stars, although the CIAS should be commended for pulling off a couple of North American concept debuts. Both of those debuts are fresh from Japans Tokyo Motor show, but both are also fresh and innovative design and engineering studies from two companies that have taken great strides and great pride in their recent renaissance. Sometimes the CIAS is even the launch pad for the odd exclusively Canadian one-off, like Acuras Civic-based CSX (used to be dubbed EL).  

Before I get too far ahead of myself, Ill touch on the results of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) voting for their choices of the best products of 2005. Lead members of AJAC announced their choices before the assembled media on media scrum day at CIAS. Finalists were narrowed down from a field of worthy candidates after an exhaustive testing event in November (it really is a great deal more extensive than anything in the U.S.) and were voted on by secret ballot before the winning choices were delivered in sealed envelopes and opened before witnesses in Torontos Metro Convention Center yesterday.

Deja vu? Yes, Honda won both top-billing awards, with its Civic sedan edging out the Civic Si Coupe and Hyundai Sonata for Car of the Year, while the Ridgeline took home Truck of the Year honors over the luxurious new Mercedes-Benz ML. Each win was well-deserved, although it was no doubt frustrating to AJAC members to see its choices pre-empted by Detroits North American Car and Truck of the Year, which were the same two picks (remember that the choices were the result of tests in November and therefore not reflective of the N.A. COTY and TOTY awards). Yes, theyre that good. Of course, AJAC members (and Honda) should at least be happy that this year, the Truck of the Year winner was indeed a truck; not a minivan like last years worthy but not very truck-like Honda Odyssey. This marks two years in a row that Honda has owned the Canadian category - impressive.

It should be noted that the Civic Sedan is an undeniable force in the Canadian market, repeatedly the top-selling car unlike midsize models, led by Toyotas Camry, which sell best in the U.S. No doubt, Hondas Civic sales will get hotter as 2006 continues, now that sedan, coupe, hybrid and sporty Si versions are available for the full year, after only going on sale this past November. An Si sedan is in the works as well, and should help boost sales further when it arrives sometime in the coming year.

Canada is truly a Civic nation, from tuners to empty nesters and race tracks to city streets, the Civic has maintained its dominance in the market, and now Honda has once again pushed the frontiers of quality and performance to new heights, although I cant say much in favor of the new styling direction, with regards to the sedan at least.

The Ridgeline is at the opposite end of the Honda spectrum, the Japanese brands very first foray into the light-truck market, in the form of a four-door, SUV-like interior paired with an open box bed in the back. This formula is nothing new, but this truck stands apart from the crowd for its more premium interior, a monocoque-wrapped frame, as well as its clever features such as the trunk hidden beneath the bed. Of course, the Ridgeline isnt selling as well as the Civic, so it gains its AJAC reward for being most innovative.

The other categories whose winners were announced were Best New Design, awarded to the Pontiac Solstice over the Dodge Charger RT and Mercedes-Benz CLS, and Best New Technology, which went to Lexus D4S fuel injection, which incorporates both direct and port injection to benefit fuel economy and performance as seen on its new and slightly maniacal IS 350 sport sedan.

Toronto also saw a long list of Canadian premieres, many of them production vehicles that will become available over the course of the next few months, and several concepts that might point the way of future designs and technology.