The North American International Auto Show in Detroit officially opened on the show floor Sunday morning with the Saturn Aura winning the award as 2007 North American Car of the Year and the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 receiving the 2007 North American Truck of the Year honors.

The selections gave General Motors Corp. a clean sweep for the first time in the awards’ 14-year history. Giant automaker GM owns both Saturn and Chevrolet.

Forty-seven automotive media from the U.S. and Canada voted in December and January to select the North American Car and Truck of the Year (NACTOY).

In the car category, the Aura sedan handily beat the Honda Fit small car and the Toyota Camry. According to the vote results, Aura received 205 votes, Fit had 176, and Camry, which is the top-selling car in America, received just 89 votes.

The Silverado was a similar runaway winner in the truck category with 243 votes, while the Mazda CX-7 crossover sport-utility vehicle got 135 and the Ford Edge garnered 92.

Saturn Smells Success With the Aura

Saturn General Manager Jill Lajdziak beamed as she accepted the first North American Car or Truck Award ever for GM’s Saturn brand. “I just want to go `YES!`” she exclaimed. She also noted that Saturn “has been through a lot.”

Saturn was born as a new car brand within GM just 16 years ago and for years had only a couple small cars in its showrooms. “There are a lot of people in our company who believed in this brand,” Lajdziak said, adding “This is a good day for General Motors … this is a good day for Saturn.”

Saturn’s midsize Aura sedan is a new model for 2007, after Saturn dropped its previously lackluster family sedan, the L-Series, in the 2005 model year. The Aura is attractively styled and wears 17- and 18-inch wheels―larger than the standard wheels on many other family cars.

European styling outside covers a front-wheel-drive platform that’s from the Opel Vectra car sold in Europe by Saturn’s parent company General Motors Corp. The Aura is offered with a choice of two V6s, only automatic transmissions and a competitive starting price of $19,945.

Next-Generation Silverado

Ed Peper, Chevrolet’s general manager, said the North American Truck of the Year Award validates the work of employees. “We at Chevrolet have felt we have the best truck out there, and this validation is encouraging,” he said.

Like Lajdziak, Peper thanked auto workers at the assembly plants where his vehicle is built, and he singled out the United Auto Workers union and Canadian Auto Workers as good “partners.” “The quality (on the Silverado) has been absolutely outstanding,” he said.

Chevy’s 2007 Silverado is a revamped, new-generation, full-size pickup and features new, aerodynamic styling, stronger and stiffer boxed frame, new suspension, wider front and rear tracks and even rear access doors that open 170 degrees on extended cab models.

The changes result in trucks―from light- to heavy-duty―that have more controlled ride and handling and interiors that feel airy and new. Three cabs and a variety of engines are offered for the Silverado, including a base 195-horsepower V6, several V8s and a Duramax turbodiesel V8 with 660 lb-ft of torque. Prices start at $17,860 .

The NACTOY awards differ from many other annual automotive honors because winners are selected from automotive journalists from different publications and Internet and broadcast outlets―not solely from one publication.

This is the second year in a row that a single automaker swept the NACTOY awards. In 2006, the Honda Civic and Honda Ridgeline were selected Car and Truck of the Year.

MSN Auto’s Ann Job and Marc Lachapelle were among the 47 NACTOY voters for 2007.