Posted: November 24, 2008

The award for the best car built in 2008 came down to a single vote, as industry journalists were torn between a stunningly refined GM midsize car and a fuel-efficient but exciting small car from Ford. Both were worthy, but GM's effort came away with the prize.

Is this an alternate universe?

No. It's Europe.

As the Big Three Detroit automakers beg for a federal government bailout and face predictions of bankruptcy within weeks in the United States, their European branches are churning out award-winning cars we never see - or won't see for several years.

Edmunds Inside Line explains, "The new Opel Insignia has been named 2009 Car of the Year in Europe, edging the runner-up Ford Fiesta by a single point." The Insignia is the new midsize car built by Opel and Vauxhall, GM's branches in mainland Europe and the British Isles. The Fiesta is a sporty subcompact Ford's European division released late this year. Its quality is said to rival the fit-and-finish that made Honda and Toyota such mainstays in the United States, and in one form, it gets 61 mpg.

The New York Times notes that voters found the sharp-looking Insignia's driving dynamics to be "second only to the Ford Mondeo (another car we don't get over here)."

In fact, American automakers make a number of the best European cars - but they never reach U.S. showrooms.

If the Big Three do go under, the eulogies may well say they simply made good cars too late. The current Chevy Malibu sits atop our midsize car rankings, and GM does plan to bring the Insignia stateside, according to the Detroit Free Press, "as the Saturn Aura...in two or three years."

Kicking Tires adds that Ford "has plans to bring the Fiesta to the U.S. by 2010." The U.S. debut of both cars, however, does "hinge upon important details: Ford and GM not going down in a catastrophic economic fireball, for starters."

But since they are facing such troubles, automakers are trying to sell cars as fast as possible with deep discounts. Research the best car deals for November with U.S. News' Car Reviews.