General Motors Co.’s Chevrolet Volt was named North American Car of the Year as the largest U.S. auto show began in Detroit. 
 
 GM’s electric-gasoline Volt beat Nissan Motor Co.’s all- electric Leaf and Hyundai Motor Co.’s Sonata sedan, the Automotive Press Association announced today at the North American International Auto Show. Ford Motor Co.’s Explorer sport-utility vehicle was awarded truck of the year. 
 
 The wins by a plug-in car in GM’s Volt and an SUV touted for its efficiency in the Ford Explorer reflect the auto industry’s investment in the notion that fuel economy will increasingly affect consumers’ purchase decisions, Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst at Edmunds.com, said in an interview. 
 
 “Even though the sales aren’t there yet, it’s sort of a chicken-and-egg thing,” said Krebs, one of the 49 automotive journalists and analysts who voted to decide the winners. “We have to go there, but the sales aren’t there yet. Americans still love their SUVs.” 
 
 The awards kick off Detroit’s annual show. Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen AG are among automakers expected to unveil more than 30 new vehicles, according to show organizers. 
 
 Ford won both awards in 2010 with the Fusion hybrid sedan and Transit Connect commercial van. That was the third time in 17 years that one automaker had won both awards. 
 
 Battery Power 
 
 The Volt runs for about 40 miles (64 kilometers) on an electric charge before a small gasoline engine kicks in to recharge the battery and extends the range to more than 350 miles, according to Detroit-based GM. 
 
 The Volt began sales in December for $41,000. Buyers are eligible for a $7,500 tax credit for plug-in hybrids and electric cars. 
 
 Ford began selling the Explorer late last year and will sell a version with a smaller, 4-cylinder engine. The standard Explorer with a V-6 engine gets 25 mpg on the highway, according to the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker. 
 
 The Volt was GM’s first finalist for the car award since 2008, when the Chevrolet Malibu won to beat out the Cadillac CTS and Honda Accord, according to the awards’ website. 
 
 GM fell 42 cents to $38.56 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Ford rose 4 cents to $18.31. 
 
 To contact the reporter on this story: Craig Trudell in Detroit at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net; 
 
 To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at jbutters@bloomberg.net. ||||| It’s official: the automotive press loves General Motor’s Chevy Volt as it walks away from the NAIAS as the North American International Car of the Year. The don’t-call-it-an-extended-range EV essentially sweep 2010′s consumer automotive awards, earning the top spot as Motor Trend’s 2011 Car of the Year, Green Car Journal’s 2011 Green Car of the Year, Automobile’s 2011 Automobile of the Year, and placing among the top ten in both Car and Driver’s and Ward’s AutoWorld’s 10 best of the year. So yeah, GM built a winner with the Volt. 
 
 The Chevy Volt’s story started out a short three years ago as a rolling concept and then quickly, it became clear that GM was dead serious about this car. Development timelines were beat and concepts shown-off. They even let us drive one of the engineering test mules in 2009 to show that yes, they had this thing on lock-down. 
 
 But then the production Chevy Volt numbers hit with an anti-dramatic thud partly thanks to the $41,000 sticker. It turned out that the Volt was an extended-range electric vehicle that could travel only 40 miles on the battery, but then the generator would kick on, powering the electric motor until the gas ran out. But that’s how GM had said all along the Volt would work. Consumers just didn’t seem to pay attention. GM delivered and the public was seemingly unimpressed. 
 
 The buff mags noticed, though. Motor Trend was the first out of the gate with its top honors, naming the Volt 2011′s Car of the Year. But as Rush Limbaugh and Motor Trend got into a war, the Volt simply trudged forward, seemingly winning an award a week with the latest just coming from the North American International Auto Show where 49 American and Canadian journalists picked the Volt over all the rest. At $41,000 the Volt isn’t a Malibu — or a third-generation Prius — but it is the perfect example of GM’s potential engineering and manufacturing capability. If only we were having the same conversation 4 years ago, GM would still be on top of the sale’s charts and not rebuilding a shattered image.
– If the desire to go green wasn’t enough to convince you to buy a Chevrolet Volt, maybe this will: The $41,000 plug-in hybrid was named North American Car of the Year at the country's largest auto show. The Volt beat out Nissan’s all-electric Leaf and Hyundai's Sonata sedan to snag the top honor at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. It's the latest in a long line of awards for the car, including Motor Trend Car of the Year, CrunchGear notes—but not everyone is impressed. Bloomberg reports that Ford's Explorer grabbed Truck of the Year.