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2017 North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year entries announced

Over 40 vehicles will compete for the 2017 North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year awards. If that name looks a little strange, it's because the competition added a third category. In years past, pickup trucks, crossovers, SUVs, commercial vans, and minivans competed for the same award. That's why there were occasionally weird comparisons, like last year's competition between the Volvo XC90 and Nissan Titan XD. The new format separates pickups and commercial vans into the truck contest and CUVs, SUVs, and minivans into the utility competition. A complete list of eligible vehicles is below, but here are a few highlights. For one, the entire list of entries has a luxurious lean. Of the 43 vehicles, nearly half of them are from premium brands. There are two eligible Bentleys – the Bentayga and Mulsanne – the Rolls-Royce Dawn, Jaguar F-Pace, Audi Q7, and the Mercedes-Benz GLS-, E-, and S-Class Maybach. The performance ranks are lofty, too, with the Audi R8, Acura NSX, Alfa Romeo Giulia, Mercedes SL- and SLC-Class, Porsche 718, and F-150 Raptor. The mainstream entries are just as comprehensive. From the Chrysler Pacifica to the Chevrolet Cruze to the Fiat 124 Spider to the Mitsubishi Mirage, NACTOY has covered an enormous price range with this year's contestants. Of course, these are only the eligible vehicles. They'll need to run through three rounds of judging, starting in September at NACTOY's traditional Hell, MI, test drive. The Canadian and American journalists involved in the judging will announce this year's nine finalists – three in each category – on December 6. Cars Acura NSX Alfa Romeo Giulia Audi A4 Audi R8 Bentley Mulsanne Buick Cascada Buick LaCrosse Cadillac CT6 Chevrolet Bolt Chevrolet Cruze Fiat 124 Genesis G90 Hyundai Elantra Infiniti Q60 Jaguar XE Kia Cadenza Lincoln Continental Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan Mercedes-Benz S550 Maybach Mercedes-Benz SL-Class Mercedes-Benz SLC-Class Mini Clubman Mitsubishi Mirage/G4 Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman Rolls-Royce Dawn Toyota Prius Prime Volvo S90 SUVs Audi Q7 Bentley Bentayga Buick Envision Cadillac XT5 Chrysler Pacifica GMC Acadia Infiniti QX30 Kia Sportage Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class Jaguar F-Pace Mazda CX-9 Nissan Armada Trucks Ford F-Series Super Duty pickups Ford F-150 Raptor Honda Ridgeline Nissan Titan half-ton Related Video: Featured Gallery Bentley Bentayga View 23 Photos News Source: Automotive News - sub.

Mercedes C-Class Coupe to debut in Frankfurt

Mercedes-Benz is set to launch its new C-Class Coupe at the Frankfurt Motor Show this fall, according to Autocar. In addition to the standard C Coupe, the German automaker will also reportedly show a Mercedes-AMG C63 version, which AMG boss Tobias Moers says will be a "breakthrough" for the brand. Speaking to Autocar, Mercedes design chief Gorden Wagener promises the new C-Class Coupe will be "even better to drive than it looks," and says that the two-door will be sleeker and even more beautiful than the recently launched S-Class Coupe. Talk about a tall order. Specific design tweaks for the C Coupe will include revised front- and rear-end styling, while keeping the C's long hood and short rear deck to emphasize its rear-wheel-drive architecture. What's more, this revised design will need to be flexible, as Mercedes is planning a convertible version of its C-Class. Expect the interior design to carry over largely unchanged. The same goes for powertrains, including the excellent, twin-turbocharged, 4.0-liter V8 that will slot into the range-topping Mercedes-AMG C63 Coupe. We'll know more when the sleeker, two-door C-Class is unveiled in September.

Kimi Raikkonen fastest in first Belgian Grand Prix practice

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium — Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen lapped fastest in first practice for the Belgian Grand Prix on Friday but Mercedes, and title contender Lewis Hamilton, still looked every bit the team to beat. A four-time winner at Spa, and with a contract extension for 2018 announced earlier in the week, Raikkonen lapped the longest track on the calendar with a best time of 1 minute 45.502 seconds. The 37-year-old Finn's time was set on the quickest ultra-soft tires, however, while Hamilton — preparing for his 200th race start — was second-fastest and only 0.053 slower on the soft compound. Hamilton was 0.092 faster than Ferrari's world championship leader Sebastian Vettel, with the German third on the timesheets and also setting his time on the quickest but least durable tire. Vettel leads Hamilton by 14 points with nine races remaining. Red Bull's Dutch teenager Max Verstappen, Belgian-born and attracting a huge traveling support of orange-capped fans, was fourth fastest with Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo fifth. Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas, who bumped into the tire barrier after going off across the gravel and damaged his front wing, was sixth fastest. The session was halted after 15 minutes when Brazilian Felipe Massa, who missed the previous race in Hungary after feeling dizzy in practice, crashed heavily into the tire barrier at turn seven out of Les Combes. He was taken to the medical center for checks, before returning to the pitlane, with his team facing a long job rebuilding the car. The session resumed after a 10 minute stoppage. Williams said the chassis would have to be changed and the team still hoped to get the car back out on track for some of the day's second session, even if that looked like being optimistic. Fernando Alonso suffered a lack of power in his McLaren, but still ended up 13th fastest. Belgian team mate Stoffel Vandoorne, who will start his home race last on Sunday thanks to a 35 place penalty due to a power unit change, was 10th. Reporting by Alan BaldwinRelated Video: Image Credit: Reuters Motorsports Ferrari McLaren Mercedes-Benz F1 Lewis Hamilton Sebastian Vettel Kimi Raikkonen Max Verstappen Valtteri Bottas belgian grand prix