2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Named Best Car in Detroit, Silverado Named Best Truck

The Detroit Free Press has announced that they have chosen the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray as their Car of the Year while the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado took the top honors for the truck and SUV segment from the Motor City newspaper.

While high price, high performance and relatively low volume sports cars are usually looked over during award balloting, the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray has proven to have such a tremendous impact on the automotive world that makes it hard to ignore. The 2014 Corvette Stingray is the most powerful and most efficient “base” Corvette of all time and considering that it will crush cars that cost a great deal more – the C7 is a car worthy of taking major honors around the auto industry.

Considering that 2014 marks just the 6th time in over a half century that the Corvette has been fully refreshed, it was a big deal around the Motor City and with the C7 Stingray making such a big splash, it doesn’t come as any surprise to me that the Detroit Free Press picked the new Corvette as their Car of the Year. To win the 2014 Detroit Free Press Car of the Year, the Corvette Stingray beat the 2014 Cadillac CTS and the new Mazda 6.

General Motors will use the 2014 North American International Auto Show to unveil the next generation Corvette Z06 and the new Corvette C7.R racecar so with two super-Vettes set to debut in Detroit, the C7 will continue grabbing the limelight into the new year. The 2014 NAIAS could also be another big event for the 2014 Corvette Stingray as it is one of the three cars in the finals for the 2014 North American Car of the Year alongside the 2014 Cadillac CTS (does anyone else notice the trend here?) and the 2014 Mazda 3.

Many of the major awards handed out so far in North America for the 2014 model year have included both the 2014 Cadillac CTS and the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray so it is fitting that the biggest award of all – the 2014 North American Car of the Year – would serve as the main event for these two GM heavy hitters to duke it out. Of course, the Mazda 3 could prove to be the spoiler for GM but my safe money is on the 2014 CTS to edge out the Corvette when the winner is announced at the NAIAS. The new LT1 V8 of the 2014 Corvette was also named one of Ward's Ten Best Engines for 2014.

Over in the truck balloting, the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado was named the Detroit Free Press Truck of the Year with the redesigned Chevy pick defeating the new Jeep Cherokee and the Subaru Forester. Like the Corvette, the new Silverado has gotten a ton of attention from the jurors of the various awards with the newest generation and that is for good reason as this new Silverado is the best Chevy truck ever.

Also like the Cadillac CTS and the Corvette Stingray, the 2014 Silverado is also in the running for North American honors as it goes head to head with the Jeep Cherokee and the Acura MDX. That could be a tough battle for the Silverado as the Cherokee is a fairly groundbreaking SUV but the Detroit Free Press announcement could serve as some foreshadowing for the NA Truck of the Year awards.

We will know who wins the North American Car and Truck of the Year award in just a few weeks but today – General Motors is king with the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and the 2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 taking top honors with the Detroit Free Press.