And now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for... the Car of the Year awards to rule all Car of the Year awards... the definitive selection of the very best the industry has to offer has been decided. Well, we don't know about all that, but the votes have been tabulated and the assembled jurists (including our own Chris Paukert) have selected the 2012 North American Car and Truck of the Year.

The finalists were whittled down from a list of 30 candidates to include the Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra and Volkswagen Passat (on the car side of the equation) and the BMW X3, Honda CR-V and Range Rover Evoque (on the truck side, despite them all being car-based crossovers). And after (what we hope was) careful consideration, the panelists have selected the Elantra and the Evoque as the overall winners.

The awards will undoubtedly sit proudly atop the mantles at both Hyundai and Jaguar Land Rover's headquarters, but will surely be received with particular jubilation by Range Rover, which has won the award for the first time in this, its largest market.