North American Car of the Year is…

|Published 12 years ago

The Cadillac ATS has taken top honours. The Cadillac ATS has taken top honours.

Detroit - The ATS, which is Cadillac's new rival to the BMW 3 Series, has won the North American Car of the Year award.

The compact sports sedan is available in rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive guises and is offered with a choice four-cylinder or V6 power, pushing up to 239kW in 3.6-litre guise.

The Cadillac was selected from a group of just three finalists, which also included the new Ford Fusion (which is essentially the next-generation Ford Mondeo) and the latest North American-market Honda Accord.

There's also a 'Truck/Utility' category and this year the honours went to Chrysler's Ram 1500 pick-up, which beat the not-very-truck-like Ford C-Max and Mazda CX-5.

The competition was judged by a jury of 49 motoring journalists.

The Ram 1500 won the Truck/Utility category.