Chevrolet Corvette named North American Car of the Year

(January 13, 2020) DETROIT — The eighth-generation Chevrolet Corvette, which has not reached U.S. showrooms yet, won the 2020 North American Car of the Year (NACTOY) while the Jeep Gladiator took the truck win, and the Kia Telluride was named top utility vehicle of the year. The awards were announced this morning in Detroit.

This year's winners were selected by a jury of 50 American and Canadian automotive journalists from a group of three finalists in each category. A vehicle must have been redesigned or significantly changed during 2019 to be eligible for the award.




The Corvette beat the Toyota Supra, created in collaboration with BMW, and the Hyundai Sonata for the car award. A sports car has not won the title since 2014, with the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. The Corvette also won the award in 1998.

“We had an opportunity to drive the Corvette ... and we were so impressed, compared to what we thought it was going to be,” she said. “It was obviously the winner," said NACTOY President Lauren Fix.



FCA's Jeep Gladiator won the truck award over the Ford Ranger and the Ram Heavy Duty in a battle between two Detroit automakers.This is the first time a Jeep has taken the truck title since the Jeep Grand Cherokee in 1999.

The Kia Telluride took utility vehicle of the year over the Hyundai Palisade and the Lincoln Aviator. Kia has never won a NACTOY title before, but was a finalist in the car category for the Kia Stinger in 2018.



Vehicles were judged on several categories including innovation, design, safety, performance, technology, value and driver satisfaction.

The three finalists in each category were selected from a list of 29 vehicles announced in September. For the first time since 2014, no European vehicles made it as NACTOY finalists.

The North American Car, Utility and Truck of the Year awards were founded in 1994. The Utility Vehicle of the year award was added in 2017.

Source: Automotive News