And the winning entries for the 2012 North American Car and Truck of the Year are the Hyundai Elantra and the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque respectively. The announcement was made today on the sidelines of the 2012 Detroit Motor Show.

The winners for each category were chosen by a jury of 50 automotive journalists from the United States and Canada.

For the past 18 years, a committee of journalists from U.S. and Canadian magazines, radio and TV stations, websites and newspapers meet once a year and vote for the North American Car and Truck of the Year [NACTOY].

You'll have to wait until January to find the winners for the 2012 edition of the North American Car and Truck of the Year, but the three finalists for each category were announced on Thursday in Detroit.

The Leaf is proving to be not only a commercial hit for Nissan, having sold 20,000 units already this year, but a collector of automotive awards as well.

The latest trophy won by the Leaf is the "Car of the Year Japan 2011-2012", which was announced at the 42nd Tokyo Motor Show. Nissan’s all-electric model has also won the World and European Car of the Year awards this year.

The first phase of the European "Car of the Year 2012" [COTY] award has been completed with the announcement of the 35 candidates eligible to participate in the voting process.

As with prior events, in order to be a nominee, the contenders had to be new vehicles available now or before the end of this year in five or more European markets, and each has to have the prospect of a minimum of 5,000 annual sales.