2013 North American Car and Truck/Utility Of The Year Award Nominees Announced

Oct 02, 2012 04:05 PM EDT | Matt Mercuro

Eleven cars and nine truck/utility vehicles made the annual North American Car and Truck of the Year short lists on Tuesday. The selections were not too surprising overall.

Simply just making the list means that car was one of the best cars released in 2012 and it is considered a great achievement by most companies. Some companies have been so proud of the accomplishment they have made advertisements or commercials for the specific car just to talk about the nomination and to remind people why they should consider buying that specific car of course. Expect the same to occur this year.

The award process was changed this year to include utility to the truck short list category. This was done perhaps to avoid excluding certain types of vehicles that voters felt should be honored somehow.

Last year, the 2012 North American Car and Truck of the Year winners were the Hyundai Elantra and the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque.

The final winner will be named at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show sometime this January. The non-profit North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year jury is made up of 50 Canadian and U.S. journalist respectively.

The nominees for each category include:

2013 North American Car of the Year Short List:

BMW 3 Series

Chevrolet Malibu

Scion FR-S

Subaru BRZ

Toyota Avalon

Dodge Dart

Honda Accord

Lincoln MKZ

Cadillac ATS

Ford Fusion