The 2021 Hyundai Elantra.Richard Warrington/Courtesy of manufacturer
Two Fords and a Hyundai won their respective categories in the 2021 North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year (NACTOY) awards announced today.
The Hyundai Elantra compact sedan was voted Car of the Year with 176 points, just out-polling the luxurious G80 sedan (173) from its sister brand Genesis. The other car finalist was the Nissan Sentra, a direct market rival of the Elantra, which received 151 points.
The other two categories were landslides for Ford. The Mustang Mach-E, Ford’s new all-electric crossover, won with 265 points, miles ahead of the Genesis GV8- luxury crossover (136) and the Land Rover Defender luxury-off-roader (99).
The Ford F-150 was voted top truck by an even greater margin – 340 points, vs. 130 for the Ram TRX and 30 for the desert-racer Jeep Gladiator Mojave.
The NACTOY jury comprises 50 American, Canadian and Mexican auto writers.
In the final vote, jurors were each given 10 points to be distributed among the finalists in each category.
The 2021 process began with 43 eligible vehicles that were narrowed down to 27 semi-finalists and then 9 finalists through two rounds of voting. Criteria for evaluation included segment leadership, innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction and value.
Jeremy Sinek is a juror for the North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year awards.
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