2016 NACTOY
The North American Car of the Year finalists for 2016 are the Chevrolet Malibu, Honda Civic, and Mazda MX-5 Miata.
Finalists for the 2016 North American Truck/Utility of the Year are the Honda Pilot, Nissan Titan XD and the Volvo XC 90.
The winners will be announced on January 11th at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, MI. Each new, or highly refreshed, car is considered by the organizing committee to be on the list for North American Car and Truck of the Year (NACTOY). The list is paired down to cars in one group and sport utility and trucks in the other group. Fifty-three automotive journalists from the United States and Canada then vote from the long list to the shortlist of the three above in each category. Deloitte & Touche accounting firm handles all the votes and is the only group that knows the outcome before it is read.
The three-car finalists were up against some tough competition, BMW 7 Series, Chevrolet Camaro, Chevrolet Volt, Kia Optima, Nissan Maxima, and Toyota Prius.
and the three truck finalists were up against some tough truck competition, Ford Edge, Honda HR-V, Hyundai Tucson, Jeep Renegade, Kia Sorento, Lexus RX, Mazda CX-3, Toyota Tacoma
General Motor’s subdivision, Chevrolet, is ecstatic about the nomination, “We are honored by this great news. The team behind the Malibu consists of both innovative and experienced designers and engineers, who successfully built a midsize that is more fuel-efficient, safer, and connected than ever before.”
Honda has two nominations this year, one for the car (Civic) of the year and the other for the truck of the year (Pilot). Honda’s PR person, Robyn Eckard Eagles, penned a heartfelt message to social media, “We are so humbled here at Honda. The fine jury of journalists across North America has recognized Honda as a finalist in both the North American Car and Truck of the Year categories. While most of the cars on the list are import brands, make no mistake that both Honda finalists; #Civic and #Pilot are both led by US development teams who invested their lives and poured their hearts into these vehicles. Thank you to all of the jurors for this recognition and to all of the folks I work with at Honda who support #2016Civic and #2016Pilot”.
Mazda’s PR person, and race car driver, Jeremy Barnes sent an email, “We’re honored to be named a finalist for North American Car of the Year. MX-5 Miatas are cars you envision driving alongside the ocean…they’re cars you can race….they’re cars you buy because you love driving. Let’s face it, not a lot of people dream of hypermiling down the 405, but so many people can associate with the freedom of carving up canyon roads with the top down, the music loud, the sun out, no traffic and not a care in the world – and isn’t that what a Car of the Year should be?”
Truck of the Year nominees wore the same sentiment on their hood.
For the Nissan Titan:
“To understand the full significance of the North American Truck of the Year award you have to look at the cumulative depth of knowledge of the jurors, who represent major magazines, television stations, radio stations, newspapers, and websites,” said Fred Diaz, senior vice president, Sales & Marketing and Operations, U.S.A., Nissan North America, Inc. “To be named one of three finalists is a tribute to the dedicated Nissan planning, design, engineering, development, and manufacturing teams across America that have worked so hard to bring it to market.”
and the Volvo XC-90:
“The all-new Volvo XC90 represents the future of Volvo and reflects our new design, power, and technology philosophies. It’s also the safest Volvo ever. We hope to take the trophy again, as we did with the original XC90 in 2003.”
The 2015 North American Car of the Year top three nominees were:
Ford Mustang
Hyundai Genesis
Volkswagen Golf/TDI/GTI
The winner was Volkswagen
The 2015 North American Truck of the Year top three nominees were:
Ford F-150
Chevrolet Colorado
Lincoln MKC
The winner was the Ford F-150
