Honda on an Awards Roll with Civic and Ridgeline
The Canadian International Auto Show has brought together the best
vehicles of the past year, highlights some of next year's stars, and has even managed to pull off a couple of North American concept debuts. Both of those debuts are fresh from Japan's 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. Before I get too far ahead of myself, I'll touch on the results of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada 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 and were voted on by secret ballot before the winning choices were delivered in sealed envelopes and opened before witnesses in Toronto's Metro Convention Centre yesterday.
Honda
won both the top-billing awards, with its Honda Civic sedan edging out the Civic Si Coupe and Hyundai Sonata for Car of the Year, while the Honda Ridgeline took home Truck of the Year honours 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 Detroit's North American Car and Truck of the Year, which were the same two picks. Yes, they're 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 year's worthy but not very truck-like Honda Odyssey. This marks two years in a row that Honda has owned the category - impressive.
The Civic Sedan is an undeniable force in the Canadian market, repeatedly the top-selling car, and it is sure to 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 can't say much in favour 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 brand's 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.
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. Stay tuned over the next few days as we introduce some of the highlights of CIAS 2006 and pick our own best in category and best in show.
The Canadian International Auto Show has brought together the best
 |
| Canada (and America's) Car of the Year: the 2006 Honda Civic. (Photo: Jonathan Yarkony, Canadian Auto Press) |
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 and were voted on by secret ballot before the winning choices were delivered in sealed envelopes and opened before witnesses in Toronto's Metro Convention Centre yesterday.
Honda
 |
| Paul Williams of AJAC hands Jim Miller from Honda Motor Company of Canada trophy for AJAC's Car of the Year, 2006. (Photo: Jonathan Yarkony, Canadian Auto Press) |
The Civic Sedan is an undeniable force in the Canadian market, repeatedly the top-selling car, and it is sure to 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 can't say much in favour 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 brand's 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.
The other categories whose winners were announced were Best
 |
| Canada (and America's) Truck of the Year: the 2006 Honda Ridgeline. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
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. Stay tuned over the next few days as we introduce some of the highlights of CIAS 2006 and pick our own best in category and best in show.
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