Honda, Lincoln, Volvo nab top industry honors
DETROIT – The Honda Accord, a midsize car that underwent a big revision last year that impressed critics, was awarded the auto industry’s most highly sought honor Monday — North American Car of the Year.
The Lincoln Navigator won Truck of the Year and the Volvo XC60 was named SUV of the Year at the North American International Auto Show here.
The Navigator also is an SUV, but in a year in which there were no new strong competitors among pickups, it won based on its truck-like towing ability, Mark Phelan of the Detroit Free Press, president of the jury, said in a blog post.
Though the Accord has been around for decades, the new version introduced last year wowed. Honda sold 322,655 of both the older and the new model last year, down 6.5% compared with 2016 amid a general decline in car sales, according to sales tracker Autodata.
“Honda took a clean-sheet approach to reinventing America’s most popular car, and we couldn’t be prouder to receive this honor for Accord as the North American Car of the Year,” said Henio Arcangeli Jr., general manager of Honda sales for American Honda Motor.
Lincoln, which heavily promoted its new Navigator at a time when big SUVs are popular again, was thrilled with the award.
“This is such great news,” said Amy Marentic, president of Lincoln China.
The comfortable and luxurious Navigator, with a base price of $72,055, features touches such as 30-way adjustable seats and laser-etched wood trim.
The XC60 won for bringing high-end safety and driver assistance features to a midsize luxury vehicle. It’s larger corporate sibling, the XC90, won in 2016.
The SUV has a starting price of $41,500. Volvo sold 22,690 of them last year, a 10.9% improvement from the previous year, according to Autodata.
“We are so proud the XC60 has won this prestigious award,” Anders Gustafsson, CEO of Volvo Cars USA, said in a statement.