I'm agree with you Squachy, to my eyes, the Sonata and the Fusion desserved the title.
and here in the Great White North, we had to wait in February to see our COTY chosed by the AJAC (Automobile journalists association of Canada and if you like to see the list of the previous winners
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Car_of_the_Year )
But then, some MT COTY recieve some "curses" overs the years (Corvair, Vega, Dodge Aspen/Plymouth Volare, Renault Alliance) the 300C had escaped the curse, will the Civic avoid the COTY curse?