Ford Motor Co , swept the 2010 North American Car and Truck Awards at the Detroit auto show on Monday, marking only the third time in the 17-year history of the award that a single automaker has claimed both titles.

A panel of about 50 U.S. and Canadian automotive journalists named the Ford Fusion Hybrid the car of the year and the Ford Transit Connect the truck of the year.

The Focus beat out the Buick LaCrosse and the Volkswagen Golf/GTI for the car title, while the Transit Connect beat out the Chevrolet Equinox and Subaru Outback for the truck title.

The automakers typically use the awards, presented at the start of the North American International Auto Show, to market their vehicles.

A couple of years ago -- a number of years ago -- we said we wanted to get back into the car business and we wanted to do it with vehicles that had great quality, great fuel efficiency, technology and safety, said Mark Fields, president of the Americas for Ford.

(Reporting by James B. Kelleher, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

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