The 2018 North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year semifinalist list has been announced. That means two things: auto show season is nearly upon us and the weather is about to get a whole lot colder. We digress.
The 2018 list is a significant one, however. It marks the first time in years that no American-made car has been in the running for North American Car of the Year. It signals Detroit automaker’s focus on crossovers, trucks and SUVs. Although GM isn’t in the running for Car of the Year, it’s well-represented elsewhere.
GM has three crossovers competing for Utility of the Year and one truck competing for Truck of the Year. In the “Utility” category, judges have named the 2018 Buick Enclave, 2018 Chevrolet Equinox and 2018 Chevrolet Traverse has semifinalists. For the “Truck” category, the 2017 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 is up for top honors.
GM’s vehicles face stiff competition in the Utility segment, which ranges from Alfa Romeo, to Mazda, and Volvo. On the truck side of things, the Colorado ZR2 will face off against the Ford Expedition and the Lincoln Navigator. Both body-on-frame SUVs were significantly updated for the 2018 model year.
Now, judges will continue to cut down the list until the finalists are announced later this year. The winners will be announced at the 2018 North American International Auto Show.
Comments
“..no American-made car has been in the running for North American Car of the Year” Then why call it that? Either limit the competition to true American cars or just stop the award!!!
Yes Detroit was the best when there was no competition.
Wasn’t the Opel version of the Bolt the European car of the year last year?
2008 North American Car of the Year – Chevrolet Malibu
no sedan from GM
Car mags have learned from the Olympics. You can triple the gravy for your officials if you add ‘semi’finals to the ‘finals’. Just make absolutely sure the winners are chosen by judges, not by being objectively better so that it’s obvious to everyone. Think of it like the 100meters vs Ice-Dancing. Usain Bolt is a winner, nobody doubts that. Ice-Skate Dancing? How can you possibly tell who is better than who? That way, judges are needed, and then you can pay them.
Well, wisely the automakers are not releasing any new cars because they are a bad return on investment with slowing sales and shrinking profits as the sedan is riding a decline to irrelevance.
Hey, Camry, Accord, Impreza, are all built in the USA! That makes them American made, no? Those are some competitive choices that are still in the running.
Meanwhile, Impala, Sonic, and many of your bubba shaker Silverados are built in other countries with my bailout money.
Okay, so you named a few cars from across the pond that are built here, and you named a few of our cars that are built overseas… are you forgetting all of those brands still build MOST of their cars outside the US and (atleast Ford and GM) American manufacturers still build MOST models in the US? So there’s not valid point to prove in your comment. Jusy because a car is built here doesn’t make it American. What makes a car really belong to a country is the location which it is designed and engineered.
Strange but I looked at no less than 10 brand new 2018 Camry’s yesterday and only one was make in Kentucky. The rest were all Japan. So where is the Camry made again? It’s so easy to make a point when it works in your favor expect when it really doesn’t. Now I don’t have the ratio of Kentucky Camry’s vs Japan Camry’s but seeing only one in 10 that were made there was telling.
Many buyers believe that Japanese Camrys are better cars. And that what they look for when buying. In the past, there were actual hardware differences between the two including brakes. Who do you want building your car? A super efficient Jap or a fat man from Kentucky?
No, they’re imports. So tired of that twist of a responses.