My selections for Car/Truck/SUV of the Year at the 2018 Denver Auto Show at the Colorado Convention Center were the Alfa Romeo Giulia, Ford F250 Super Duty and Volvo XC60, respectively.

When the winners were announced, though, in voting by members of the Rocky Mountain Automotive Press, I missed on all three. Top awards went to the Toyota Camry, Nissan Titan King Cab 5.6 and the Dodge Durango SRT.

In defense of my picks, the Volvo XC60 has been chosen top crossover and SUV all over the country and was selected World Car of the Year. It is a trifecta of crossover success for Volvo, along with Volvo’s big XC90 and its new, small 2019 XC40. All three were displayed at the five-day Denver Auto Show.

I was very impressed with the handling of the Alfa Romeo Giulia luxury sport sedan over Cameron Pass and down to Walden, and coming from the hills of Italy, it proved particularly tuned to the spirited mountain driving of the Colorado Rockies.

For RMAP voters to select the Nissan Titan 1500 for the second year in a row was surprising to me; the dominance of the Ford Super Duty with its 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 turbodiesel engine producing 925 lb.-ft. of torque and 440 horsepower was convincing.