CaroftheYearMilestones Winner
1949 Car of the Year is born Cadillac
1951 Motor Trend Engineering Achievement Award, Chrysler Corp.
scoring in 13 categories
1953 Four criteria: performance, handling, safety, and Cadillac 62
economy/maintenance
1956 The Motor Trend Award for engineering advancement Ford Motor Co.
1961 Car of the Year verbiage finally gets engraved on the trophy! Pontiac Tempest
1962 Caliper-like trophy; focus shifts to “Progress in Design” Buick Special
1967 Modern calipers-on-gear trophy design; three criteria: Mercury Cougar
engineering, styling, and market timing
1968 Foreign Car Awards companion piece recognizes the Pontiac GTO
Wankel-powered NSU Ro80 & Mazda Cosmo
1970 Panel of five outside judges assist; first Import Ford Torino
Car of the Year (Porsche 914)
1979 50 scoring categories using a 100-point scale(!) Buick Riviera
1983 Eight criteria: styling/design, quality control, occupant Renault Alliance
comfort/convenience, ride and drive, handling, dollar value,
instrumented performance, and fuel economy
1994 No scoring system Ford Mustang
1999 Last year for Import Car of the Year (Volkswagen New Beetle) Chrysler 300M
2001 Ten criteria: design, engineering, quality, interior, Chrysler PT Cruiser
special features, fun factor, livability, safety,
performance, and value
2005 Down to three criteria: superiority, value, and significance Chrysler 300
2010 Guest judges return; six criteria instituted: design Ford Fusion
advancement, engineering excellence, performance
of intended function, efficiency, safety, and value
which pretty handily won COTY that
year. Five years later Caddy blended GPS
and cellular communications to intro-
duce OnStar telematics, then in 2000 the
DeVille offered the world’s first automo-
tive night vision system.
For 2001 we ranked cars according to
10 key criteria. When that proved a few
too many, we condensed it to three in
2005 before leveling off at the six we still
use today when determining America’s
most coveted automotive award. Shortly
thereafter, Cadillac began bringing the
hurt to the Germans with the terrific-
handling, lightweight Alpha-platform
ATS and CTS (2014’s COTY).
Today another benchmark V-8, the
CT6-V pictured here, is poised to hit the
market. Cadillac’s mighty Blackwing
4.2-liter twin-turbo is ready to take on
similar-spec engines in Mercedes-AMGs,
Audi RSs, and BMW Ms. Customers
snapped up all 275 examples of the
$89,785 sedan in a few hours.
Cadillac’s latest engineering tour de
force would surely inspire John Bond to
generate even more glowing praise and
compelling graphics. And who knows?
Maybe it’ll help Cadillac grab the Golden
Calipers yet again this year. nTHE SEMINAL ’49 CADILLAC V-8 WAS THE CONTINUATION
OF A LONG LINE OF ENGINEERING INNOVATIONS.56 MOTORTREND.COM SEPTEMBER 2019