MONTREAL – Today at the Montreal International Auto Show, the all-new Cadillac ATS luxury sport sedan was named the winner of the 2013 “Best of the Best” award by the Canadian Automotive Jury (CAJ).

"This award re-affirms how well the all-new ATS was designed and built to win against all competitors,” said Rob Assimakopoulos, GM Canada general director of marketing and communications. “The ATS is a great performing luxury car and the Cadillac team is honoured it is being recognized as the Best of the Best, and earlier this week, as the North American Car of the Year."

The ATS beat out 11 other finalists, which included a wide variety of vehicles available to Canadian new-car buyers, including sedans, coupes, hatchbacks, SUVs, crossovers and sports and performance cars. The CAJ's Best of the Best finalists don't exclusively focus on a specific model within a family of vehicles or only "all-new" models, and they include the reigning Best of the Best winner from the previous year, which is an automatic finalist.  Finalists are selected based on the following criteria:  style, design (exterior and interior), ride and handling, performance, ergonomics, comfort, space, cargo capacity, fuel efficiency and noise, vibration and harshness.

The new ATS is the lightest car in its class with a unique architecture designed for nimble driving performance. The Best of the Best award is the latest in a growing list of accolades for the ATS, which was named 2013 North American Car of the Year, Car of the Year by Esquire, Motor Press Guild, and Auto123.com, and Best New Luxury Car by the Automobile Journalist Association of Canada and Autos.ca, as well as several other awards.

A compact sport sedan, the ATS is offered in rear- and all-wheel drive versions, with a choice of powerful and efficient four- and six-cylinder engines. It recently received a 5-Star overall crash test rating in the New Car Assessment Program run by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Photo: GM Canada