ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Ford Maverick, Bronco win truck, utility of the year awards

Kumar Galhotra, Ford President of the Americas and International markets group poses next to the Bronco off-road SUV, Tuesday, Jan. 11 2022 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Kumar Galhotra, Ford President of the Americas and International markets group poses next to the Bronco off-road SUV, Tuesday, Jan. 11 2022 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Share
DETROIT -

For the second year in a row, vehicles from Ford Motor Co. took two of the three North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year awards.

The company's Maverick compact pickup won truck of the year, while its Bronco off-road SUV earned the utility of the year. Honda's redesigned Civic compact car won the car of the year.

Fifty automotive journalists from the U.S. and Canada are judges for the three awards, which are announced every January. They're chosen from dozens of candidates and must be new or substantially changed for the current model year. Automakers often use the awards in advertising.

The judges evaluate finalists on value, innovation, design, performance, safety, technology and driver satisfaction. The selection process started last summer.

In addition to the Bronco, Utility of the Year finalists included the GV70 from Hyundai's Genesis luxury brand, and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric SUV.

Truck finalists included the Maverick as well as its main small pickup competitor, the Hyundai Santa Cruz. Also included was the Rivian R1T pickup from the electric vehicle startup.

In addition to the Civic, car finalists included the Lucid Air electric sedan, and the Volkswagen Golf GTI and R sports cars.

Fully electric vehicles were finalists in all three categories this year, but judges picked gas-powered or gas-electric hybrid vehicles.

Guidehouse Insights E-Mobility Principal Analyst Sam Abuelsamid, who is not among the jurors, said it's likely the more affordable prices of the Civic and Maverick appealed to the group.

The Maverick, with a hybrid powertrain, starts at $19,995, while the Civic's base price is $22,350.

Lucid's Air Dream starts at $169,000, but lower-priced versions are coming. Rivian's R1T has a starting price of $67,500. Neither price includes federal or state tax credits for electric vehicles.

Last year Ford's Mustang Mach-E electric SUV won the utility award. Abuelsamid sees electric vehicles winning more of the awards in future years as more models are rolled out at lower prices and in more popular segments.

Toward the end of last year, there were about 20 electric vehicles on sale in the U.S., and this year manufacturers will start selling about 20 more, Abuelsamid said. Many are coming in popular market segments such as full-size pickups and compact crossover SUVs, he said.

The awards, he said, are becoming more important as new automakers enter the market. "There's a real opportunity to create consumer awareness for these brands," Abuelsamid said.

Also at the announcement event in Detroit Tuesday put on by the Automotive Press Association, organizers of the big Detroit auto show announced that it will return to the city in September for the first time since 2019.

North American International Auto Show Executive Director Rod Alberts said the show would be both indoors and outdoors in and around the downtown Detroit Huntington Place convention center. It will take place from Sept. 14 through 25.

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.

The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

Local Spotlight

They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.

Stay Connected