What
are the International Car of the
Year Awards?
Presented
with the flair of a true Hollywood production,
the ICOTY Awards honor four new vehicles
in four categories in the new model
year. Nominees
include vehicles that are manufactured
by American, British, German, Japanese,
Korean and Swedish automakers but
are sold in America. ICOTY categories
include:
International
Car of the Year
International
Truck of the Year
•
• • • •
Earth, Wind & Power Car of the Year
Earth, Wind & Power Truck of the Year
•
• • • •
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, the ICOTY Awards are based on lifestyle compatibility and how well automakers achieve that goal.
"The ICOTY
Awards are not about power and performance,
but rather about personality and passion," said ICOTY executive producer Courtney
Caldwell.
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 17 reputable writers and editors
who represent respected publications
such as MSN Autos, Forbesautos.com, Edmunds.com, Consumer Guide Automotive,
Yahoo! Autos, Auto Week, and Autoline
Detroit, to name a few. Voting ballots
are then sent to J.D. Power and Associates
for final tabulation to ensure accuracy and credibility.
The
ICOTY Awards attract more than 700
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.
Criteria —
Each car must be a brand new model entry, or if an existing model, have significant
changes in design and/or technology for the new model year. Attributes
considered during the voting process are baded on lifestyle compatibility and how well automakers achieve that goal.
ICOTY
Awards have been used by
winning automakers in newspaper and magazine ads, outdoor billboards
and television infomercials. The awards have also received mention in USA Today,
The Wall Street Journal, People, Forbes, US News, Home and Garden, Newsweek, MSN
Autos, Edmunds.com and on GMA and The Early Show.
Other
awards presented during the ICOTY
show include a Lifetime
Achievement Award
presented to a veteran automotive
journalist; and introduced in
2008, the inaugural EARTH
ANGEL Award honoring
the most environmentally friendly
automaker of the year, an industry
first. General Motors became the
first recipient of the inaugural
award.
For
ICOTY Sponsorship Kit, Receive Press
Releases or Media Invitation
for Upcoming ICOTY Awards, please
click
here.
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