The Mercedes-Benz GLA45 AMG and the Cadillac Elmiraj took the top honors in the thirteenth annual North American Concept Vehicle of the Year Awards last week.


The awards recognize those vehicles most likely to shape the future of the automobile industry. More than two dozen jurors, all professional automotive journalists, participated in a selection process that involved a total of 29 vehicles, each introduced to North America during this season’s auto shows in Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, Toronto, and New York.
Arv Voss and Bill Schaffer from the iVeho.com website/blog are both members of the Concept Vehicle Jury.
The Production Preview Vehicle category is for those vehicles based on a model that has already been announced or planned for production. The finalists in this category included the Infiniti Q30, the Infiniti Q50, the Mercedes-Benz GLA45 AMG, and the VW Passat 1.4L BlueMotion.





The Mercedes-Benz GLA45 AMG took the honor of 2014 Production Preview Vehicle of the Year. “What’s small, fun and can’t get here soon enough? . . . The Mercedes-Benz GLA45 AMG,” said juror BJ Killeen. “While it’s still in concept form, this baby beast will turn every mild-mannered suburban mom into a stoplight drag racer, just because she can.”



The Concept Vehicle category recognizes long-range prototypes designed to measure market reaction to future features and models. The finalists in this category were the Cadillac Elmiraj, the Mercedes Benz GT6, the Nissan Blade, and the Toyota FT-1.


Marking its ninth competition as a category finalist, and the brand’s fourth visit to the awards podium, Cadillac takes the 2014 Concept Vehicle of the Year award with its Elmiraj Concept. “The Cadillac Elmiraj is a reminder of when concept cars were dream cars,” said juror Dan Carney. “It’s the kind of statement vehicle Cadillac needs.”
From amongst the winners in the Concept Vehicle and Production Preview categories, the Cadillac Elmiraj posted the highest overall score to earn the top award as Most Significant Concept Vehicle of 2014.
Additional information and details regarding the nominees, the selection jury and the award winners can be found by visiting?http://www.northamericanconceptawards.org on the web.