The North American Car and Truck of the Year jury have selected their nine picks for this year’s awards in the three categories. The group will announce the winners on January 11, following a final round of voting from January 2 through 4.
For the Car of the Year award, the finalists are the Genesis G80, Hyundai Elantra, and Nissan Sentra. The trio beat out the semifinalists that included the Acura TLX, Cadillac CT4/CT4-V, Kia K5, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and Polestar 2.
In the Truck of the Year category, the finalists are the Ford F-150, Jeep Gladiator Mojave, and Ram 1500 TRX. The only other semifinalist was the Ford Super Duty.
Finally, the Utility Vehicle of the Year finalists are the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Genesis GV80, and Land Rover Defender. This was by far the most crowded category. The semifinalists included the Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Tahoe/Suburban, Chevrolet Trailblazer, Ford Bronco Sport, Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Seltos, Kia Sorento, Mazda CX-30, Nissan Rogue, Toyota RAV4 Prime, Toyota Venza, and Volvo XC40 P8 Recharge.
“In this very challenging year, these nine vehicles emerged as our Finalists out of an unusually strong field of 27 Semifinalists,” said NACTOY President Gary Witzenburg.
There are 50 jurors who vote on the semifinalists and the overall winners in each category. The folks are made up of professional automotive journalists from the United States and Canada.
Last year, the Chevy Corvette Stingray was Car of the Year, besting the Toyota Supra and Hyundai Sonata. The Kia Telluride took the honors in the Utility category to defeat the Hyundai Palisade and Lincoln Aviator. The Jeep Gladiator won the Truck award to beat the Ram Heavy Duty and the Ford Ranger.