Our friends to the north have been keeping busy by choosing their pick for the car and truck of the year, before snow takes over.

So over the last week, the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) had assembled in the Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario to see which cars are the best in their category. The winners in each category will then go head to head with each other to name just one Car of the Year and Truck of the Year, which will be announced at the Toronto International Auto Show on February 16, 2012.

For now, here is the list of winners per category:

BEST NEW SMALL CAR (under $21k) – Hyundai Accent

BEST NEW SMALL CAR (over $21k) – Hyundai Elantra

BEST NEW FAMILY CAR (under $30k) – Kia Optima

BEST NEW FAMILY CAR (over $30k) – Kia Optima Hybrid

BEST NEW LUXURY CAR – Mercedes-Benz C350 4MATIC

BEST NEW PRESTIGE CAR (over $75k) – Mercedes-Benz S350 BlueTEC 4MATIC

BEST NEW SPORTS/PERFORMANCE CAR (under $50k) – Hyundai Veloster

BEST NEW SPORTS/PERFORMANCE CAR (over $50k) – BMW 1M

BEST NEW SUV/CUV (under $35k) – Dodge Journey

BEST NEW SUV/CUV ($35k-$60k) – Volkswagen Touareg TDI

BEST NEW SUV/CUV (over $60k) – BMW X3

Interestingly, the only American brand to have a category winner is Dodge, and the country with the most winners on this list is S. Korea, while no Japanese car made the cut.

Our neighbors to the north apparently do more than just make maple syrup and drink beer, they annually get together to choose their car of the year. Sounds like fun eh!

The Automobile Journalist Association of Canada (AJAC) has just released its list of contestants for this years competition, which will be held in the Niagara region of Ontario.

Last year the winner was the Chevrolet Cruze. Which will win this year? The results will be revealed at the Toronto International Auto Show in February 2012. The North American Car of the Year list was published earlier this year.

Hit the jump to see the full list:

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Following just after the annual Texas Auto Writers Association announced their top vehicle pics for 2010, our brothers to the North have just done the same. After several days of testing and grading 150 new vehicles the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) has announced its top picks in 11 different vehicle classes.

General Motors took home a total of three awards with the new Chevy Cruze taking the award in the Best New Small Car over $21,000; the Buick Regal taking home Best New Family Car Over $30,000 and the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe being awarded Best New Sports / Performance Car. Volkswagen and Ford took home the second highest number of wins, with the Jetta TDI announced as the Best New Family Car Under $30,000; while the new Touareg finishes as Best New SUV/CUV over $50,000. The Ford Fiesta won for Best Small Car Under $21,000 while the new 2011 Edge was awarded Best SUV/CUV under $50,000.

The overall winners for Canadian Car and Truck of the Year will be announced at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto in February.

See after the jump for all the winners in their respective categories:

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Yesterday we reported on a story first published by CarChat, that raised serious questions about the credibility of the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), Canadian Car of the Year Awards. This morning we received a response signed from AJAC President Clare Dear and CCOTY Chairman Richard Russell, with the other side to the story.

The letter refers to the same instructional webinar that Banovsky deals with in which it states that, “10 is a perfect score. That means it leaves no room for improvement. But there is nothing that can’t be improved upon. So there can be no 10 scores. If you score something as 10 that score will be discounted.”

AJAC counters that “discounted” does not mean “completely ignored.” Rather, that any vote of 10 will be reduced to a 9.9. AJAC also claims that over the years there have been very few times that the use of 9.9 instead of a rating of 10 has ever been used because, “AJAC’s experienced voters understand that there is always room for improvement, especially in something as complex as a motor vehicle.”

This would then eliminate the possibility of “vote rigging” by journalists.

The letter continues, “If Mr. Banovsky had been an accredited journalist with access to information provided voters and/or had made the effort to use facts, he would know that a ’10′ score has nothing to do with being ‘best’ in class. It has only one meaning: ‘perfect.’ It has nothing to do with the ranking of vehicles, best to worst. Every individual rating is independent. If there are five vehicles in a class, for example, they could all be given exactly the same ratings for any or all parameters. In short, his comments are clearly based on an ignorance of the facts and we have requested that he retract them.”

In addition, AJAC asserts its long standing record, stating that, “The Canadian Car of the Year awards program is one of the most thorough and unbiased of its type in the world and has been acknowledged as such by many critical observers – not the least the auto manufacturers whose vehicles we evaluate, more than 60 experienced and respected journalists invited to do the judging and the international accounting firm of KPMG who are responsible for tabulation of the secret ballots . We go to great lengths to ensure its validity and credibility and take strong exception to any suggestion that the results are ‘fixed’. We are prepared to protect our reputation by whatever means necessary.”

A recent report suggests the Canadian Car of the Year Awards may be fixed. CarChat Editor Michael Banovsky, citing an unnamed but trustworthy source, is reporting that members of the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), were told of a way to skew the results of the annual Canadian Car of The Year awards.

The plan has allegedly been in place for years and involves discounting perfect scores. The way it works is that if a journalist feels a car is the best in one attribute, they can give it a score of 10, which will then be ignored. This stems from the idea that “no vehicle is perfect.” Apparently the rule has been in place for several years, but only this year were journalists told of the plan. It would then seem that not all journalists were “in” on the plan in years past.

The conspiracy does seem a bit much, but arguably the best evidence that such vote rigging has been going on is the fact that in 2008 AJAC awarded the Lexus IS-F the top spot in the Sports Performance category, despite it being up against (what we have to admit are obviously superior rivals), the BMW M3 and Nissan GT-R.

AutoGuide contacted AJAC for a comment but as of the posting of this story we have received no reply.

CarChat is also reporting that several journalists, not wanting to participate in the scheme, have decided to now rank “perfect” vehicles a 9.9 out of 10.

AJAC just recently released the list of nominees for Canadian Car of the Year and Canadian Utility Vehicle of the year, after 70 of Canada’s “elite” automotive journalists spent the week testing a long list of 156 vehicles at the organizations annual Test Fest event. The 12 class winners will now be submitted for the 2010 Canadian Car of the Year or the 2010 Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year, which will be announced at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto, Ontario on February 11. The list of winners is included after the jump.

[Source: CarChat]

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The Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) has just announced the list of nominees for Canadian Car of the Year and Canadian Utility Vehicle of the year. This list is made up of the winners from each of the 12 categories and includes the Mazda3, Mazda3 Sport, Volkswagen Golf Wagon TDI, Ford Taurus, BMW 335d, Porsche Panamera Turbo, Volkswagen GTI, Audi S4, Audi A5 Cabriolet, Subaru Outback, Volkswagen Toureg TDI and Lexus RX450h.

Highlights include the Mazda3 as Best New Small Car under $21,000; the Volkswagen Golf Wagon TDI for Best New Family Car under $30,000; the Ford Taurus for Best New Family Car over $30,000; the Subaru Outback for Best New CUV/SUV and the Porsche Panamera Turbo for Best New Prestige Car. In total Volkswagen brands walked away with half of the awards.

AJAC released the list this morning in Niagaro-on-the-Lake in southern Ontario where 70 of Canada’s “elite” automotive journalists spent the week testing a long list of 156 vehicles at the organizations annual Test Fest event.

The 12 class winners will now be submitted for the 2010 Canadian Car of the Year or the 2010 Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year, which will be announced at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto, Ontario on February 11.

[Source: Auto123]

Follow the jump for a list of the individual class winners:

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After taking top honors for the North American Car of the Year at the 2009 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, it’s no surprise that the Hyundai Genesis has also claimed to top prize from the Automotive Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC).

The Genesis appears to be the right car for the times, a well-priced luxury sedan from an automaker known more for well-built entry-level economy cars. In other words, the Genesis is all about value.

Coming standard with a 310hp V6, the Genesis also features an optional 375hp 4.6-liter V8.

This marks the first time Hyundai or any Korean automaker has won the AJAC Car of the Year award.

2009 Hyundai Genesis Review