Originally Posted by Troopa-R

I don't think anyone disputes this. But it's still significant given MT's historically domestic preference and the very strong domestic presence in the candidate list (Dodge Caliber, Buick Lucerne, Pontiac Solstice)

Originally Posted by mayonaise

like Troopa-R said, no one's arguing you here. but the fact that they separated imports from domestics is a pretty strong statement by itself. it shows that motortrend didn't view imports as worthy of receiving the COTY award, or that they were afraid of imports taking away a disproportionately large percentage of the awards. is there another reason? i think this suggests a detroit-slanted bias. and for this reason, the civic winning the award this year is significant, even though the award may not mean much to anyone here.

Originally Posted by kazi

The reason for the 'very strong domestic presence' in the candidates is because only brand new models for that year are qualified to compete. There were probably more new domestic brand car models than there were import brands.