Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario – The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) has announced the category winners of its annual Canadian Car of the Year competition. Over 80 journalists from across Canada spent five days on back-to-back testing of 56 vehicles in 14 categories to come up with the winners in each for the 2009 competition.

The overall Canadian Car of the Year and Canadian Truck of the Year awards will be named at the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto in February 2009. The awards for Best New Technology, Best Design and Best New Green Technology will also be announced later.

The winners in each category are:

Small Car Under $18,000: Toyota Corolla
Small Car Over $18,000: Pontiac Vibe
Family Car $22,000-$30,000 – Mazda6
Family Car Over $30,000: Volkswagen Passat CC
Luxury Car Under $50,000: Hyundai Genesis
Luxury Car Over $50,000: Audi A4
Prestige: Mercedes-Benz CL550/Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG (tie)
Sports/Performance Under $50,000: BMW 135i Coupe
Sports/Performance Over $50,000: Lexus IS F
Convertible: Audi TTS
SUV/CUV Under $35,000: Subaru Forester
SUV/CUV $35,000-$60,000: Ford Flex
SUV/CUV Over $60,000: Mercedes-Benz M-Class BlueTEC
Pickup: Dodge Ram