Excitement was in the air at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last week as the Chevy Silverado won Truck of the Year after GM invested nearly a billion marketing dollars introducing this new truck.  Meanwhile, a handful of Saturn executives and quality engineers were busy answering press questions about the AURA in the heated competition for 2007 North American Car of the Year.  The competition was stiff, with entries from Jaguar, Mercedes, Lexus, Nissan, Toyota, Honda and Infiniti, but all of us Saturn folks were feeling mighty confident.In the end, the 49 judges (all members of the automotive press) voted the AURA as 2007 Car of the Year.  In the end, I think it was all about quality, not marketing hype.  We spent less than 2% of what they spent marketing the Silverado, so while most Americans hadn't heard about the AURA, in a side-by-side test conducted by the most experience car reviewers in the industry, the AURA won hands down.  What made the difference for these judges?  Well, they all got a chance to test-drive the AURA, and take her through the paces, to feel the quality and to compare side-by-side.I said on my first post on January 1st that 2007 is going to be an incredible year for Saturn, and with the Car of the Year announcement, I think we are off to a great start.