Hybrids on the Best Car for the Money Awards

US News Autos announced their Best Car for the Money Awards and there are two hybrids on the list. The Toyota Prius won for best hybrid and the Lexus RX Hybrid won Best Hybrid SUV.

But the choices are a little vague (at least the criteria is) and if you follow the links even a little bit, you're bound to be confused. For instance, the Toyota Camry won for best midsize, but when you click on the link, the Camry has a big #8 on it. Follow that and you'll see the Toyota Camry is #8 on the list of affordable midsize cars, of which the Ford Fusion Hybrid is #1.  The Mercury Milan Hybrid, Toyota Prius and Toyota Camry Hybrid are all ranked above the Toyota Camry.

So, it's all a bit confusing to me. Were hybrids just pushed to the side when looking at the other categories? Makes no sense. That would be like pushing V-6's to the side, while evaluating everything else.

Since there's nothing on the release or the site laying out the qualifications, I'm left confused by the whole award.  To me, the statement "Rankings are based primarily on the balanced, diverse opinions of hundreds of professional auto critics, which are analyzed and scored to create a consensus opinion about each car." means very little to me.