AutoWeek Gives Editors' Choice Honors to Top Vehicles at Detroit's 2007 NAIAS

Spotlight also shines on AutoWeek Readers' Choice Awards

DETROIT, Jan. 10 -- The AutoWeek editorial staff announced its favorite vehicles of the 2007 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) this evening at the magazine's annual Design Forum at Cobo Conference/Exhibition Center in Detroit, Mich.

The AutoWeek Editors' Choice Awards were revealed by AutoWeek Editor and Associate Publisher Dutch Mandel during the Design Forum's dinner program.

The vehicles tapped for AutoWeek Editors' Choice honors from the 2007 NAIAS are:

MOST FUN: Dodge Viper - "600 hp, 8.4-liter V10, breathing so heavy the Dodge boys had to add half a dozen new hood vents just to bleed off the excess heat," noted Bob Gritzinger, AutoWeek Senior Editor-News. "The car goes 0-60 mph in less than four seconds, and goes 0-100-0 mph in 12 seconds flat. What could be more fun than that?"

BEST CONCEPT: Ford Interceptor - "No matter what you call it, this Ford sports sedan based on a stretched Mustang chassis is one hot concept. We can only hope Ford takes the next step to put this pony car for the family man into production as soon as possible," said Mandel.

MOST SIGNIFICANT: Chevrolet Volt - "The idea behind the car -- a pure electric powertrain that gets its energy from plugging in at home or work, or from an on-board generator powered by a small gasoline engine -- is surprisingly simple," said Gritzinger. "GM says they'll be ready to build this car by 2010 or 2012, and unless battery companies can't come through, Volt and GM's E-flex System could spell the beginning of the end of America's addiction to foreign oil."

BEST IN SHOW: Jaguar C-XF - "C-XF, the concept version of the coming S- Type replacement, is the sexiest four-door we've seen from Jaguar in years," said Mandel. "This car draws a line from past Jaguar sedans to Jaguar sedans of the future."

The 2007 AutoWeek Editors' Choice Awards will be featured in the magazine's Jan. 22 issue.

Earlier in the day, AutoWeek Associate Publisher KC Crain recognized the AutoWeek Readers' Choice Award winners, revealed in the magazine's Nov. 6, 2006 issue. Last fall, AutoWeek invited readers and those who visited the autoweek.com website to vote for the cars, trucks and sport/utility vehicles they thought were tops in nine categories from the 273 different models sold in the United States in 2006. AutoWeek readers chose:

  Best Sports Car - Chevrolet Corvette
  Best Exotic - Bugatti Veyron
  Best Sedan - BMW 3-Series
  Best People Mover/SUV - Honda Odyssey
  Best Economy Car - Audi A3
  Best Luxury Car - Audi A8L
  Best Coupe/Convertible - BMW 6-Series
  Best Truck - Ford F-Series
  Best First New Car - Honda Civic

Design for Success was the theme of the day-long AutoWeek Design Forum, geared to automotive and non-automotive professionals and students. Held in conjunction with the NAIAS, the 14th annual program featured individual presentations by leading design executives. The event was sponsored by Johnson Controls and held in association with the College for Creative Studies.

AutoWeek, with 350,000 subscribers, is America's only newsweekly for car enthusiasts and those especially interested in the most up-to-date news and information on new vehicles, product evaluations, motorsports and automotive trends. AutoWeek Online, at www.autoweek.com, provides up-to-the-minute coverage of automotive enthusiast information.