You can have your cake and eat it too. Hyundai's Canadian sales rose 9.1 per cent over the previous year, making 2011 the best year in company history. And now both the Hyundai Accent and Elantra have been named finalists for the 2012 Canadian Car of The Year award from the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada.
Joining the Accent and Elantra as a finalist is the Optima, from Hyundai's sister company, Kia.
And, as an added bonus for Hyundai, the Veloster was named a finalist in the Best New Design category. The Jaguar XKR-S and Range Rover Evoque are the other two contenders in this category.
The BMW X3, Dodge Journey and Volkswagen Touareg TDI Clean Diesel will duke it out for the Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year crown.
The three category winners will be announced on Feb. 16 during media previews at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto.
Eleven category winners were eligible for the top honours after being announced last October during AJAC's annual TestFest, in which 70 Canadian automotive journalists spent four days at Niagara-on-the-Lake putting 170 "all-new" or "significantly new" 2012 vehicles through their paces. Hyundai snared three of the categories while BMW, Kia and Mercedes-Benz each earned double wins. Other category winners were Chrysler and Volkswagen.
Darren McGee