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The
International Car of the Year Awards
The Emotional Connection to Our Cars
Presented
with the flair of the Academy Awards,
the ICOTY Awards honor 10 new vehicles
in 10 categories in each new model year.
Nominees include vehicles that are manufactured
by American, British, German, Japanese,
Korean and Swedish automakers but are
sold in America.
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"The
ICOTY Awards are about the emotional
relationship people have with
their cars; a reflection about
who and where we are in life and
how our cars make us feel."
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Launched
in 1997 at the North American International
Auto Show, the ICOTY Awards became the
first auto awards to honor new vehicles
based on the emotional connection between
car and consumer. Today, nearly all
automakers use the emotional connection
theme in their marketing campaigns to
reach out to consumers.
ICOTY's
superlative categories reflect the emotional
connection a consumer might experience
during purchase or ownership at a particular
stage in their life. "The ICOTY
Awards are not about power and performance,
but rather about personality and passion,"
says ICOTY executive producer Courtney
Caldwell. "They're about the emotional
relationship people have with their
cars; a reflection about where we are
in life and how our cars make us feel."
In
order to achieve a balanced perspective
that reflects all consumers, ICOTY engages
a diverse group of renowned automotive
journalists and editors in the voting
process. The ICOTY Jury consists of
a dozen reputable writers and editors
who represent respected publications
such as the Robb Report, MSN Autos,
Edmunds.com, St. Louis Post Dispatch,
Winding Road, Auto Week, and Autoline
Detroit, to name a few. Voting ballots
are then sent to J.D. Power and Associates
for final tabulation.
The
ICOTY Awards, televised by CBS Detroit
as TV special, attracts more than 800
industry executives, political figures,
business leaders, and media, garnering
significant press coverage. Today, ICOTY
is the largest, most professionally
produced auto awards show in the industry,
an event which has been coined by industry
leaders as the Academy Awards of Cars.
The
criteria on which votes are cast can
be found in the ICOTY AWARDS archive
section under 'Awards Criteria.' Each
vehicle must meet at least seven of
this criteria.
Other
awards presented during the ICOTY show
include a Lifetime Achievement Award
presented to a veteran automotive journalist,
and the HEART STRING Award, honoring
an automaker and its agency for the
most emotionally compelling car commercial.
In 2008, the inaugural EARTH
ANGEL Award was presented
to the most environmentally friendly
automaker of the year, another industry
first.
2008
ICOTY Award Winner's
Sponsorship
Information
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