Motor Trend Magazine has named General Motors’ Chevrolet Volt its “Car of the Year.”

The magazine’s editor-in-chief, Angus MacKenzie, said the award is one of “the most significant” Car of the Year awards in the magazine’s history.

The Chevrolet Volt, which is just entering commercial production this month, is a plug-in car that can drive for about 40 miles on battery power before a gasoline engine kicks in to generate electricity for further driving.

While electric only cars run only on battery power, the Volt can kick in the gasoline engine, allowing for greater distance travel that you would see with conventional gasoline cars.

The Volt has been a subject of much controversy, being part of the “Old GM”, but is emerging as one of the most talked about vehicles of the “New” post bankrupt GM, as the company prepares to sell some of the government’s majority ownership General Motors.

To be considered, a vehicle had to be a totally new model or be significantly changed for the 2011 model year. Vehicles were judged on six different criteria: design, engineering, efficiency, safety, value and how well the vehicle fulfills its intended function.

Each vehicle was tested both on track and through additional tests if it passed the track test.

Over several days of testing, the Volt returned overall fuel economy of 72.9 miles per gallon in Motor Trend’s testing. Even if drivers went 80 miles between charging the battery, Motor Trend reported, the Volt would still be much cheaper to operate than ordinary hybrid cars, according to the magazine’s test.