Bill Pierre Ford

Consumer Reports has released its annual list of top domestic cars, and Ford is all over the list. In fact, Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles claimed seven of the ten categories.

According to Consumer Reports (CR), the top picks must adhere to specific criteria: “The vehicle must rank near the top of its category in our ratings; It must have average or better reliability, according to our latest Annual Auto Survey; It must have performed well if included in a government or insurance-industry crash or rollover test; It must provide electronic stability control (ESC) as standard or a readily available option.”

Consumer Reports notes that most of the domestic winners are also the highest scoring cars in their categories – even when they’re pitted against their foreign competitors.

“Each year that Consumer Reports offers up its annual list of Top American Picks, it seems less and less a consolation bracket and more like a reasonable set of choices,” explains Autoblog. “To wit, if you wanted the very best family-sized SUV (Chevrolet Traverse) or fullsize pickup truck (Chevrolet Silverado), Consumer Reports will tell you that you’re best off choosing American, regardless of which list its from.”

While Ford monopolizes the list, General Motors takes the remaining two spots with its Chevrolet models. However, a notable domestic omission is Chrysler, which doesn’t snag one spot – and not even in the Family Hauler category, which doesn’t have a winner.

The Consumer Reports American Top Picks 2010 are:

Small car: Ford Focus

Family sedan: Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan

Sporty car: Ford Mustang GT

Small SUV: Ford Escape/Mercury Mariner

Family SUV: Chevrolet Traverse

Sports sedan: Lincoln MKZ

Green car: Ford Fusion Hybrid

Family hauler: None qualify

Pickup truck: Chevrolet Silverado

Best car overall: Ford Fusion Hybrid

If you’re in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year’s best cars as well as this month’s best car deals.