O Canada! 2009 Vibe Wins Best New Small Car over $18,000

The 2009 Pontiac Vibe has been named the as the “Best New Small Car over $18,000” by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada. “The heart of Canada’s vehicle market is the highly competitive small car segment, so we are particularly excited about this award for the 2009 Pontiac Vibe which has seen a sales increase of over 30% this year,” said Marc Comeau, vice president of sales, service and marketing for GM of Canada. “The versatile new Vibe provides a combination of style, utility and excellent fuel efficiency that is clearly resonating with Canadian consumers.”

The award for the Vibe is the second consecutive small car segment victory for GM at the annual AJAC CCOTY competition, following on last year’s win for the 2008 Saturn Astra. The Vibe and Astra join over 15 other GM models that achieve better than 7 L/100kms in highway driving.

The Vibe is featured in this post because GM sent a press release to me. Below is a list of all the winners (there are a lot of categories):

BEST NEW SMALL CAR (under $18k): Toyota Corolla
BEST NEW SMALL CAR (over $18k): Pontiac Vibe
BEST NEW FAMILY CAR ($22k-$30k): Mazda6
BEST NEW FAMILY CAR (over $30k): Volkswagen Passat CC
BEST NEW LUXURY CAR (under $50k): Hyundai Genesis
BEST NEW LUXURY CAR (over $50k): Audi A4
BEST NEW PRESTIGE CAR: Mercedes-Benz CL550 Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG
BEST NEW SPORTS / PERFORMANCE CAR (under $50k): BMW 135i Coupe
BEST NEW SPORTS / PERFORMANCE CAR (over $50k): Lexus IS F
BEST NEW CONVERTIBLE: Audi TTS
BEST NEW PICKUP TRUCK: Dodge Ram
BEST NEW SUV / CUV (under $35k): Subaru Forester
BEST NEW SUV / CUV ($35k-$60k): Ford Flex
BEST NEW SUV / CUV (over $60k): Mercedes-Benz M-Class BlueTEC