Montréal, QC - Yesterday during media day at the Montreal International Auto Show, the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) announced the top three finalists in three overall award categories that comprise part of the association’s Canadian Car of the Year awards program; now in its 28th year.

The top three finalists are as follows:

2013 Canadian Car of the Year:

Honda Accord Sedan

Hyundai Elantra GT

Porsche Boxster

2013 Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year:

Ford Escape 1.6 L EcoBoost

Hyundai Santa Fe Sport 2.0T

2013 Best New Design:

Cadillac ATS

Porsche 911 Carrera S

Porsche Boxster

The three overall winners will be declared at approximately 8:20 am on Thursday, February 14th at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto.

Eleven category winners were eligible for the top honours after being announced last October during the association’s annual “TestFest.”  Ford won four of the eleven categories while both Hyundai and Porsche each had a double win.  Other category winners were General Motors, Honda, and Mazda. 

Eighty of Canada’s top automotive journalists spent four intensive days in Niagara-on-the-Lake conducting back-to-back comparative testing of 180 “all new” or “significantly new” 2013 vehicles.  This was no easy task.  Their vote results were determined from more than 40,000 individual data points established in the testing program.  And, before submitting their ballots, the AJAC journalists completed almost 2,000 individual road-tests during TestFest, comparing vehicles back-to-back on the same roads under the same conditions.  These tests were conducted as part of AJAC'S mission to serve consumers by providing them with factual, objective information vs. just personal opinion.

The journalists’ vote results were then compiled on-site by the international accounting firm KPMG and kept confidential even from AJAC until the winners’ press conference.  KPMG will return on February 14th at the Toronto show with four envelopes that announce the overall winners:  the 2013 Canadian Car of the Year, 2013 Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year, 2013 Best New Design and the 2013 Best New Technology award, presented by Shell Canada.