Ford Maverick, Bronco win truck, utility vehicle of the year awards
DETROIT — For the second year in a row, vehicles from Ford Motor Co. took two of the three North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year awards.
The company’s Maverick compact pickup won truck of the year, while its Bronco off-road SUV earned the utility of the year. Honda’s redesigned Civic compact car won the car of the year.
Fifty automotive journalists from the U.S. and Canada are judges for the three awards, which are announced every January. They’re chosen from dozens of candidates and must be new or substantially changed for the current model year. Automakers often use the awards in advertising.
The judges evaluate finalists on value, innovation, design, performance, safety, technology and driver satisfaction. The selection process started last summer.
In addition to the Bronco, Utility of the Year finalists included the GV70 from Hyundai’s Genesis luxury brand, and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric SUV.
Truck finalists included the Maverick as well as its main small pickup competitor, the Hyundai Santa Cruz. Also included was the Rivian R1T pickup from the electric vehicle startup.
In addition to the Civic, car finalists included the
Lucid Air electric sedan, and the Volkswagen Golf GTI and R sports cars.
Fully electric vehicles were finalists in all three categories this year, but judges picked gas-powered or gas-electric hybrid vehicles.
Guidehouse Insights E-Mobility Principal Analyst Sam Abuelsamid, who is not among the jurors, said it’s likely the more affordable prices of the Civic and Maverick appealed to the group.