NEW CELICA WINS U.S. IMPORT CAR OF THE YEAR AWARD

Tokyo―Automotive experts from Motor Trend magazine, one of the most prestigious car enthusiast publications in the U.S., have selected the Toyota Celica as the recipient of the 1978 Import Car of the Year Award. This award is made to the most outstanding import passenger car in the U.S. each year.

The Toyota Celica also won this award in 1976, making this the second time it has received the honor. Motor Trend is an authoritative auto magazine and for many years has selected the single best car on sale in the United States to be honored with a Car of the Year Award. Beginning in 1976 the magazine initiated a system of giving two awards: one for best domestic car and one for best import. The top domestic car receives the "Car of the Year" award and the best import receives the "Import Car of the Year" award.

According to Motor Trend, a total of nine import passenger cars made the final screening for selection of Import Car of the Year. Besides the Toyota Celica these included the Audi 5000 (W. Germany), the Nissan Violet (Japan - the Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Sapporo in the U.S.), the Ford Fiesta (W. Germany), the Peugot 604 (France), the Saub 99 (Sweden), the Subaru Leone (Japan―the Subaru DL in the U.S.) and the VW Diesel Rabbit (W. Germany). However, the Celica was selected as this year's recipient on the basis of its outstanding style, performance, economy, handling comfort, as well as its reasonable price.

The Celica model honored with this highly touted award was released for sale in Japan last August, while it has been exported to the U.S. from its '78 version as the New Celica Series Liftback and Coupe.