Hyundai Elantra Is Car of the Year; Range Rover Evoque Is Truck of the Year January 9, 2012, 8:40 am DETROIT - Selected by a jury of 50 automotive journalists from print, television, Web and radio, the Hyundai Elantra compact sedan was named North American Car of the Year here on Monday morning. Of the Elantra, which beat out the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Passat, Ken Gross, an automotive journalist, said in a media release that it offered "beaucoup bang for the buck, impressive mileage; it feels like a more expensive car." Even so, there was a collective gasp here at Cobo Center when the announcement was made. In the truck category, the Range Rover Evoque was a bit of an upset winner, too, beating the popular Honda CR-V and BMW X3 crossovers. Accepting the award, Andy Goss, president of Jaguar Land Rover, said: "We are going to market the hell out of this." The truck award particularly has engendered controversy, as nominees increasingly share more mechanical parts with passenger cars than with body-on-frame stump-pullers. Tony Swan, an automotive journalist and founder of the award committee, told the assembled journalists that a government agency "classifies them as trucks, and we know the government is never wrong."