North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year awards honor EVs

For the first time ever, electric vehicles won two of the three categories for the North American Car, Truck, and Utility award this year. 

Ford’s F-150 Lightening electric pickup won the truck category, while Kia’s EV6 battery-powered EV was named the top SUV. A small sedan from Honda’s Acura performance brand, Integra, won car of the year. The Integra was complimented for being enjoyable to drive and for having a “slick-shifting manual transmission,” even though many individuals disagree with the results.

Analysts predict that as the industry spends billions to introduce numerous new EV models, more prizes will likely be given to electric vehicles in the future. Whereas, six of the nine finalists were battery-powered.

The three awards, which are presented in January annually, are judged by 50 automotive journalists from the United States and Canada. They are chosen from a large pool of candidates and are required to be brand-new or significantly updated for the current model year.

The finalists are judged on their value, innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction, and value. 

Along with the Integra, other finalists for car of the year were the Nissan Z sports car and the Genesis G80 electric sedan.

The Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 off-road truck and the Lordstown Motors Endurance electric commercial pickup were the Lightning’s finalist rivals.

Finalists for utility vehicles were the Genesis GV60 and Cadillac Lyriq electric SUVs.

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