Ford Motor Company won the two major awards at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit today. The U.S. automaker’s sweep is a milestone. It’s only the third time in 17 years that a single automaker has captured both awards.
The Ford Fusion Hybrid won the car of the year award and the Ford Transit Connect snagged the truck award. The awards are great marketing tools. Last year’s winners became hot sellers, according to Reuters. In a press release, Ford crowed about the prestigious awards and boasted that the Ford Fusion Hybrid gets an estimated 41 mpg in the city and 36 mpg on the highway. The Ford Transit gets a reported 22 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway.
Here are some other awards and accolades collected by the hot Ford Fusion Hybrid:
Awards and accolades for the Ford Transit Connect include:
The only downside to this, both vehicles were built outside of the country. Now, if Ford and the other two struggling Detroit automakers can import what worked with these two vehicles to their U.S. plants — then we could really be looking at a recovery for the American Car Industry. By the way, Ford was the only one of the big three not to file bankruptcy last year or grab a chunk of that $120 billion government bailout. It might be a good idea for General Motors and Chrysler to check out Ford’s business model as well.
