DETROIT – Only one domestic-brand vehicle makes the cut as a finalist for the 2016 North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year awards. Honda stands out for scoring a spot in each category.
The Chevrolet Malibu joins the Honda Civic and Mazda MX-5 Miata as finalists in the car segment of the judging.
The final three in the truck/utility category: Honda Pilot, Volvo XC90 and Nissan Titan XD, which is the only pickup truck in the trio. The other two are car-based CUVs.
The absence of a U.S. nameplate as a finalist in the truck category is unusual for the NACTOY contest, now in its 23rd year. In the past three years in a row, domestic nameplates have won top truck honors: Ford F-150 (2015), Chevrolet Silverado (2014) and Ram 1500 (2013). Domestics have won the truck competition 15 times over the years.
Finalists for the 2016 contest were announced at a gathering of the Automotive Press Assn. here.
Judges will vote for the two winners Jan. 5. The top picks will be announced Jan. 11 at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
NACTOY bills itself as a unique contest in that awards aren’t given by a single publication or media outlet. Instead, the judging panel consists of 53 U.S. and Canadian journalists.
Judges consider innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction and value.
In each category, the judges distribute 25 points to the 49 new vehicles that were launched this year. Judges can give no more than 10 points to one vehicle and must use all 25 of their allotted points. First-round tallying creates a short list.
In addition to the finalists, the truck/utility short list includes: Ford Edge, Honda HR-V, Hyundai Tucson, Jeep Renegade, Kia Sorento, Lexus RX, Mazda CX3 and Toyota Tacoma.
Besides the finalists, the car short list is as follows: BMW 7-Series, Chevrolet Volt, Kia Optima, Nissan Maxima and Toyota Prius.
Much of the evaluations were done during a testing event in, of all places, Hell, MI.
The Tesla Model X might have been a truck/utility contender but wasn’t “because Tesla didn’t make the vehicle available for judging,” NACTOY official Joann Muller tells WardsAuto.
