Acura, Ford, and Kia are the winners of the 2023 North American Car, Truck, and Utility Vehicle of the Year awards.
The winners were announced at the M1 Concourse in Pontiac during a press conference with the Detroit Area Dealers Association (DADA) and Automotive Press Association (APA) on January 11, 2023.
“This year showed that there are more kinds of cars on the market than ever before,” said Gary Witzenburg, NACTOY President. “There are reborn models of famous nameplates, a lot of electric cars, exciting high-performance or off-road cars, impressive luxury cars, and even brand-new manufacturers.”
“2023 was a very competitive year, but Acura, Ford, and Kia came out on top with the votes of our 50 judges. We congratulate Acura, Ford, and Kia for putting out such great products this year,” Witzenburg added.
Getting right to the results, the Acura Integra, named the North American Car of the Year beat out other finalists like the Nissan Z and Genesis G80 EV. Even stranger is that it knocked out semi-finalists like the BMW i4 eDrive40, the Mercedes C-Class and EQE, the Subaru WRX, and the Toyota GR Corolla to clinch the title.
For the North American Utility Vehicle of the Year category, the Kia EV6 won, over the Cadillac Lyriq and the Genesis GV60. It also beat out semi-finalists such as the Audi Q4 e-tron, BMW iX xDrive50, Honda CR-V, Lexus RX, and Rivian R1S.
Among the features that gave Kia the win are its capacity to go up to 310 miles (499 km), pricing at $48,700 and the model is more notable for having an impressive GT version with 576 hp (430 kW or 584 PS).
Last on the list, the Ford F-150 Lightning, the first mainstream electric truck won the North American Truck of the Year award among three trucks eligible. Competitors included the Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 and the Lordstown Endurance. The second truck barely made it into production, while the first is just an off-road-focused version.
47 vehicles were eligible for the NACTOY 2023 awards. After three rounds of voting, which were checked by different people, the jury narrowed it down to 26 semifinalists, 9 outstanding finalists, and the 2023 winners. The award winners were chosen after NACTOY jurors spent hundreds of hours test driving, researching, and rating vehicles on innovation, design, safety, performance, technology, driver satisfaction, user experience, and value.
