(December 18, 2021) DETROIT — The NACTOY jury voting for the 2021 North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year finalists is in and has been tallied and audited by Deloitte in Detroit. The selection of nine finalists is the second-to-last step in the year-long evaluation process for the three awards before jurors vote and announce winners in January.

The Hyundai-Kia Group had three of the nine finalists and Ford and FCA (Fiat-Chrysler Automobile) had two each.

Finalists for Car of the Year are the Genesis G80, Hyundai Elantra and Nissan Sentra. Truck of the Year finalists are the Ford F-150, Jeep Gladiator Mojave, and Ram 1500 TRX. Finalist for Utility of the Year are Ford Mustang Mach E,  Genesis GV80 and Land Rover Defender.



“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. “Each one of them – especially the 15 in the ultra-competitive utility vehicle category – is excellent in nearly every way. Not to mention the automakers’ unusually difficult challenge of getting our 50 jurors from all over North America into their candidate vehicles for testing and evaluation prior to our later-than-usual voting deadline.”

The process of selecting NACTOY’s coveted Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year Awards begins with a list of all eligible new or substantially changed vehicles launched for each model year, which the jurors test and evaluate through three rounds of voting as they become available.

“Just as individual car buyers have their own purchase criteria, each of our 50 expert jurors has his or her own individual process for evaluating candidate vehicles,” said NACTOY Vice President Jack R. Nerad, “which results in a robust and comprehensive competition that looks at the contenders from every possible angle. We are proud of the vast experience and diversity of our panel of jurors.”

Founded in 1994, these awards are the longest-running new-vehicle awards not associated with a single publication, website, radio or television station. They are judged by professional automotive journalists from the United States and Canada who work for and contribute to a wide variety of magazines, newspapers, websites, television and radio stations. Because of the jurors’ independence, these awards are among the most respected in the industry. As always, NACTOY’s jury strives to honor excellence in automotive innovation, design, safety, performance, technology, driver satisfaction and value.

Final voting will take place Jan. 2-4 and the 2021 NACTOY Car, Truck and Utility of the Year winners will be announced on Jan. 11. Details about the new format of this event will be announced soon.