The end of the 2019 calendar year is nearly here, and that means it’s time for the 2020 North American Car of the Year awards. Of course, these annual accolades aren’t limited to cars, as they also recognize the best of the best in the utility and truck segments too, and General Motors has six semifinalist entries across the board. With that in mind, we’re taking a quick look at what The General has in the running, as well as a quick rundown on the competition.
Before we get into it, a quick note on the North American Car, Utility and Truck of the Year Awards (NACTOY) themselves. For those that don’t know, the 2020 Car of the Year awards are an annual recognition of the finest four-wheeled products out there, as determined by a diverse jury of automotive journalists from print, online, radio and broadcast media, with jurors plucked from both the U.S. and Canada.
So, with that out of the way…
2020 North American Car Of The Year Contenders – Cadillac CT5, Corvette C8
The Cadillac CT5 is Caddy’s new D-segment sedan, taking on European competitors like the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and BMW 3 Series with both performance and luxury stuffed into a single high-gloss package.
The Chevrolet Corvette C8 is nothing short of a game-changer for the highly celebrated Chevy nameplate, offering a new mid-engine platform that promises to take the Vette to all-new levels of performance.
Competition in the 2020 North American Car of the Year awards includes:
- BMW 3 Series
- Hyundai Sonata
- Kia Soul
- Mazda3
- Mercedes-Benz A-Class
- Polestar 1
- Porsche 911
- Subaru Legacy
- Toyota Supra
- Volkswagen Arteon
2020 North American Utility Of The Year Contenders: Cadillac XT6, Chevrolet Blazer
Cadillac is in the running in the Utility segment as well thanks to the Cadillac XT6, the brand’s new SUV, which slots in between the Cadillac XT5 and Cadillac Escalade with 310 horsepower under the hood and seating for seven in the cabin.
Meanwhile, the Chevrolet Blazer continues the iconic nameplate in the midsize crossover segment with sharp styling and a range of four-cylinder and V6 powerplants.
Competition in the 2020 North American Utility of the Year awards includes:
- Audi e-tron quattro
- Ford Explorer
- Ford Escape
- Honda Passport
- Kia Telluride
- Hyundai Palisade
- Lincoln Aviator
- Lincoln Corsair
- Subaru Outback
- Volvo V60 Cross Country
2020 North American Truck Of The Year Contenders: Chevrolet Silverado HD, GMC Sierra HD
GM’s heavy-duty trucks both made it to the semifinals, with both the 2020 Chevrolet Silverado HD and 2020 GMC Sierra HD arriving as all-new pickups for this year. Under the skin is the GM T1 vehicle platform, while the powertrain lineup is enhanced with two new engines.
Competition in the 2020 North American Truck of the Year awards includes:
- Ford Ranger
- Jeep Gladiator
- Ram Heavy Duty
Look for the winners in all three categories to be announced early next year, and make sure to subscribe to GM Authority for more Cadillac news, Chevrolet news, GMC news and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
I’m calling it now…
C8, Aviator (or Telluride), Gladiator.
These are not necessarily the vehicles I want to win, but this is my best guess.
I agree with Henry; C8 Corvette, Aviator, and Gladiator. That’ll amount to one award for each of the Detroit 3.
Unfortunately, none of the new Cadillac products is particularly significant.
I could see the RAM HD winning in the Truck category over the Gladiator but I agree on the Car and Utility category winners.
C8, Aviator and Silverado HD.
Have you seen the way the Silverado HD looks? If either of the GM trucks are going to win, it’ll be the Sierra HD.
I have Henry. I’ve driven one too. Really like it. It’s a Beast.
aviator has too many reliability issues to win
Like the journalists know what reliability is.
Jim,
How can you say there are reliability issues with a vehicle that is barely on sale at this point? I think I’ve seen one Aviator on the road and my dealer has a lot of them “in transit” but none in their inventory. If there are issues, they’d fall under the category of teething problems due to the newness of the product. Reliability relates to longer-term and recurrent issues. I think it is way too early to declare that the Aviator has “reliability” issues.
3 out of the 5 articles I have read about the Aviator since it has been on sale involve a recall or customer complains. One article had a list including “seat belts not working, a leaky sunroof, a digital gauge cluster going out….” not to mention the 2 recalls already out for it.
The XT5 has been out for 3 years with 2 recalls that I can think of. The Aviator has been out for a few months and already has 2 recalls.
I’m not going to lie, the Aviator is a great vehicle (reliability aside) but it suffers from the same problem as the new RAM 1500 (another great truck aside from reliability). It was rushed into production and released too early and now the problems are coming to light.
C8, Telluride, Sierra HD
Why include imports in a North American award? The Eurpoeans nor the Asians give awards to U.S. products! Leave all the imports out!
Raymond,
Can you give any data to what ” today ” constitutes a North American vehicle or company ?
Like the Telluride, its made in Georgia, but is owned by Kia ?
Like the Jeep, its made in Ohio, but is owned by the Agnelli’s an Italian family ?
Like GM, is made in Michigan, but is owned by who, Mary, Mark, and Dan, or who, from where, in the investment groups ?
What is the definition of North American ?
And is it owned by, built in, most profits go to ?
Sorry man GM is going down in all departments, They did a horrible job on the T1 platform. The inside is so plastic and fake leather. I was a gm for life until the new Ram came out plus to many made in china parts on ALL GM cars and truck. So disappointed with GM
An import is a brand that takes the profits from a regional area and sends it back to the home country. EG: Honda America will still send the profits back to Honda in Japan. Honda America is NOT an american company as per my requirements above. It does not matter where the final assembly takes place. Want another example: Airbus assembles a line of jets in USA, but guess where the profits go back to; That’s right, the “European Union”.
FCA is exactly what it is, FIAT Chrysler Autos. Nobody is hiding the fact it is owned by Fiat, and Chrysler is a division operating out of Detroit.
Larry W
So FCA profits are sent to Italy, but Jeep is assembled in the US !!
So is it an import ?
And if the foreign investment in GM is majority of shares, is it a foreign automaker ?
Who owns the majority shares ? Investment groups ? Who ? Where are the profits going ? Americans ?
Include imports because they’re sold in the North American Market (NAM). It’d be twisted and biased to exclude a bunch of cars engineered for sale in the US because they’re owned by foreign companies or assembled elsewhere.
C8, Telluride, Gladiator
Corvette, Blazer, Silverado HD. As long as they’re not red. If they’re not GM vehicles I just don’t care.