TORONTO, Ontario –

On Thursday, the Canadian Automotive Jury released the list of 12 vehicles that will vie to be the 2011 Best of the Best Winner.
Leading the 2011 Best of Best Finalists are models from European automakers, which comprise five spots on the list. The Big 3 was represented with four vehicles, while Korean brands accounted for two spots.
Only one vehicle from a Japanese OEM (Mazda2) made the list.
Included on the Canadian Automotive Jury are 10 senior auto journalists in the country. These journalists fund the non-profit organization, officials noted.

They further emphasized that “the Jury’s selections don’t exclusively focus on a specific model within a family of vehicles or only ‘all-new’ models.”

Last year’s winner was the Volkswagen Golf. As such, the Jury automatically gave it a 2011 finalist spot.  This is the program’s second year.
It was required for models to have hit stores by the beginning of this month in Canada in order for them to have qualified for consideration, officials said.
The complete list of finalists includes:
Audi R8
BMW 5 Series
Buick Regal
Cadillac CTS
Ford Fiesta
Hyundai Sonata
Jeep Grand Cherokee
Kia Sportage
Mazda2
Mercedes-Benz E-Class
Volkswagen Jetta

Volkswagen Golf