What so they win an award then have to wear a dunce cap? WTF is up with that?

B..b..but HYBRIDS!

Euro-weenies! Need I say more?

Wait, they made the announcement at the NY Auto Show, and of the top three contenders, two aren't sold in the U.S.? I'll bet none of the World Green Car diesels is currently available here either.

I certainly hope that the cardboard in those pyramids is at least 20% post-consumer recycled paper.

So that is another flashy worthless award to throw around in a commercial.

Sweet.

Nobody invited the swedes to the party?

Koenigseggeggeggeggeggeggeggeggeggeggegg!

@graverobber: Because US cars are not relevant outside the US.

I really hope they actually bring the Mazda2 here. Don't know if the rumours have been confirmed as of yet.

Don't get your mullets in a twist, I am sure the Ponchamino will be a shoe-in for world car-truck of the year for 2009.

@sos10: Actually Chrysler, for all it's faults here, is pretty popular in Canada and from what I've rad in Europe. But then again Chrysler has offices throughout Canada and they also produce their vehicles there and in Mexico, so maybe that does not count :P

Mazda wins awards for its number 2s!

@MazdaEric: For some reason I always add Canada and Mexico to the US.. must be an European thing.. Chrysler does sell some PT Cruisers and Voyagers in Europe, but I doubt they could be candidates for this (worthless) Prize.

@sos10: It's not about the US building relevant cars, it's about being able to buy relevant cars in the US.

Diesels, hatchbacks, they're not bad things, are they? I'm less concerned about the Mondeo - the Fusion is still a good car, and we kinda ignored the Contour when we had it.

@Maymar: The Contour was an ugly POS. The redesigned Mondeo that came out after the Contour died because no one bought that ugly boat looked fantastic. But we couldn't buy it because they wouldn't sell it to us... circular logic there.

We seem to be left out of just about every high-efficiency-but-practical-but fun small car there is. We aren't getting the 5-door 1 series, there's rumors the 5-door VW GTI may die (glad I got mine!), rumors we may not get the 6th gen Golf, it took way too long for Saturn to sell those little hatches it finally has now, and the list goes on and on and on and on.

With high gas prices these types of cars are very relevant now and there's people screaming for them.

But where are they?

Yaaaaaaaay Mazda!

Okay, so it's kind of a miserable car... but i have to cheer for Mazda, right?

@ash78:
Actually, the fuel economy on a Mazda 2 is quite good. It's basically a Ford Fiesta on a crash diet.

5th gear said it actually handled pretty well, too.