N. American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle Of The Year Finalists

This is the BIG ONE!  We know have the list the nine finalists for 2023 North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year (NACTOY). They were announced at the Los Angeles Auto Show. This year's awards started with a field of 47 eligible vehicles. The semifinalist cut narrowed it down to 26 and now the finalist list whittles that number to nine.  

Eight automakers make the finalist cut, with Genesis taking two of the nine spots.  Winners will be announced in January. For reference, last year's winners were the Honda Civic, Ford Maverick and Ford Bronco.

Here are the finalists, by group and listed in alphabetical order.

North American Car of the Year:

• Acura Integra
• Genesis G80 EV
• Nissan Z

North American Truck of the Year:

• Chevrolet Silverado ZR2
• Ford F-150 Lightning
• Lordstown Endurance

North American Utility Vehicle of the Year:

• Cadillac Lyriq
• Genesis GV60  
• Kia EV6
  

My predictions? 

• Car:  Acura Integra
• Truck:  F-150 Lightning
• Utility: Kia EV6

The awards are voted on by 50 NACTOY jurors following an extensive test-drive and evaluation period. The jurors vote based on elements including automotive innovation, design, safety, performance, technology, driver satisfaction, user experience and value.

"Our nine finalists for 2023 represent a diverse cross-section of this year's best new vehicles, ranging from sports cars to powerful pickups to three electric utility vehicles – which is the first time in our history that all three finalists in a specific category are battery-electric," said NACTOY President Gary Witzenburg. "Our jurors drew on their deep industry expertise and unique testing and evaluation techniques to narrow the field from 26 semifinalists to three vehicles in each category, which include a record-breaking six electric vehicles. The NACTOY board is grateful to our 50 hard-working jurors for their time and dedication as we head toward our final vote and winners event in January."

NACTOY Predictions

During a NACTOY test-drive an evaluation event in October,  it says more than dozen jurors participated in an informal poll which offered insights into automotive topics such as electrification and production issues.  Here's are some of predictions:

• NACTOY jurors predict EVs will make up 10% of new vehicle sales between either 2023-2025 or 2025-2027 (equal vote), 25% of new vehicle sales between 2027-2030 and 50% of new vehicle sales between 2030-2035.
• NACTOY jurors also predict 2024 or 2025 will be the first year when 50% of vehicles eligible for a NACTOY award will be electric. Of this year's eligible new vehicles, 40% were electric.
• Most NACTOY jurors chose public charging limitations as the reason most buyers are not choosing EVs, followed by EV misinformation and vehicle cost, respectively.
• New car prices keep hitting record highs. NACTOY jurors predict the average new car price will continue to increase and buyers will hold onto their vehicles longer to compensate.
• NACTOY jurors predict supply chain and production issues caused by the pandemic will be mostly resolved by 2024.

About the Awards

NACTOY says its awards are unique because they are not decided by a single publication. Instead, they are evaluated throughout the year by 50 respected jurors from print, online, radio and broadcast media across the U.S. and Canada. There are three votes during the course of the process to reduce the list of eligible vehicles down to semifinalists, finalists and winners.

The jury votes were tallied and audited by Deloitte. Final voting takes place place Dec. 30, 2022 – Jan. 5, 2023, and the 2022 NACTOY Car, Truck and Utility of the Year winners will be announced at a special event in Detroit on January 11, 2023.