DETROIT – The Volkswagen Golf and Ford F-150 fullsize pickup win North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year honors here, beating out the Ford Mustang and Hyundai Genesis in the car category and the Chevy Colorado and Lincoln MKC luxury CUV in the truck category.
Each vehicle is judged on criteria including general design, fuel economy, handling and general performance, comfort, assembly quality, functionality, technical innovation and price.
The vehicles are selected from a “short list” of 23 new vehicles selected earlier by the jurors.
The NACTOY awards are unique because, instead of being given out by a specific group or media outlet, they are chosen by 57 automotive journalists representing a wide variety of media, including WardsAuto, from the U.S. and Canada.
It is the 8th truck win for Ford and the fourth time the F-150 has won.
Last year the North American Car of the Year was the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray while the North American Truck/Utility of the Year was the Chevrolet Silverado.
In the last 22 years, domestic automakers have won North American Car of the Year 12 times and foreign-based automakers have won 10 times. Japanese automakers have three wins. European automakers have five wins. Korean automakers (Hyundai) have two wins.
Detroit-based automakers have won the truck competition 15 times. Foreign-based automakers have won seven times. Of the seven wins, Japanese automakers have won four times and Europeans have won three times.
