pet connection

I gotta say I’m kinda proud of myself this morning, for my idea a couple years ago to start reviewing hatchbacks, wagons, SUVs, crossovers and the occasional truck for their suitability as what we now call “DogCars.” The reviews were meant to be a one-hit story for our syndicated newspaper pet-care page, but they proved so popular that we went ahead and started a Web site, DogCars.com, to feature them. And then we gave out our first DogCars.com awards, in several different categories.

The auto-makers have definitely taken notice of dog-lovers as a market for their vehicles, and we’re pretty happy with our part in that. Honda has a new campaign touting the Element — our Best In Show DogCars.com Car of the Year — as a great car for dog-lovers. And Mitsubishi, whose Outlander scored a win in our “Best Small SUV” category, is also trumpeting the doggedly great nature of their vehicle. From the blog at DogCars.com, our Keith Turner (who has been covering the auto industry for years), reports:

After DogCars.com honored the Outlander as the Best Small SUV for dog lovers, the automaker sent out a press release touting the award to the rest of the world.

A quick review of Mitsubishi’s media web site finds that the automaker has included not one but TWO photos of dogs in the rear portion of the Outlander. One photo shows a dog safely secured in a crate behind the bottom portion of the horizontally split rear hatch. The second photo has the pup up on all fours and out on the open tailgate.

And by the look on his face, this dog is ready to get moving.

These photos mark the first time — at least in this writer’s memory — that an automaker has purposely included a dog in one or more of its press photos.