{"id":2366,"date":"2020-01-15T01:01:50","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T06:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/articles.carcostcanada.com\/?p=2366"},"modified":"2025-03-07T09:25:18","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T14:25:18","slug":"corvette-telluride-and-gladiator-win-2020-north-american-car-utility-and-truck-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/articles.carcostcanada.com\/corvette-telluride-and-gladiator-win-2020-north-american-car-utility-and-truck-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Corvette, Telluride and Gladiator win 2020 North American Car, Utility and Truck of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2020
The 2020 Corvette has changed the game for Chevrolet as well as its mainstream and exotic competition.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Trying to guess which car, SUV and pickup will win their respective categories in the annual North American Car, Utility and Truck of the Year awards program can be more difficult some years than others, but most folks that keep their ear to the road had the 2020 lineup of winners picked out long before the big announcement this week. <\/span><\/p>\n

The true name of the award is North American Car and Truck of the Year (NACTOY), in spite of having a third category covering SUVs added in 2017. The NACTOY awards were first presented in 1994. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"2020
The new Corvette’s interior looks much more premium-like than its predecessors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A total of 50 automotive journalists made up the NACTOY jury this year, from print, online, radio and broadcast media in both the U.S. and Canada, with the nine finalists (three per category) presented in the fall and the eventual winners awarded each year at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit. This year\u2019s announcement changed to a separate event at the TCF Center (previously called Cobo Hall\/Cobo Center) in Detroit, however, due to the NAIAS rescheduling to June 7-20, 2020. <\/span><\/p>\n

Notably, each year nominated vehicles need be completely new, totally redesigned, or significantly refreshed, or in other words the vehicle being nominated must be something most buyers would consider entirely new or wholly different from its predecessor. Additionally, each finalist earned its top-three placement via judgment of its segment leadership, innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction, and dollar value. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"2020
The 2020 Telluride takes Kia way upscale, making a good impression of a premium SUV.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This year\u2019s selection process began in June of 2019, with vehicle eligibility chosen after three voting rounds. NACTOY chose the independent accounting firm of Deloitte LLP for tallying up all votes and then kept them secret until the organization\u2019s President, Lauren Fix, Vice President, Chris Paukert, and Secretary-Treasurer, Kirk Bell unsealed the envelopes on stage. <\/span><\/p>\n

Finalists in this year\u2019s \u201cCar\u201d category included Chevrolet\u2019s Corvette, Hyundai\u2019s Sonata and Toyota\u2019s Supra, with the winner being the new seventh-generation mid-engine Corvette, a completely reimagined car that will totally upend the premium sports car segment. Of note, it has been six years since a sports car won the Car category, so hats off to General Motors\u2019 Chevrolet brand and its Corvette team for designing something so sensational that it couldn\u2019t be overlooked, while both Toyota and Hyundai should also be recognized for their superb finalists. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"2020
Just check out the Telluride’s interior. It’s over the top luxury.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cA mid-engine Corvette was a huge risk for Chevy\u2019s muscle-car icon. They nailed it. Stunning styling, interior, and performance for one-third of the cost of comparable European exotics,\u201d said The Detroit News auto critic Henry Payne. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUtility Vehicle\u201d finalists were all entirely new to the SUV market, and included the Hyundai Palisade<\/a>, Kia Telluride<\/a> and Lincoln Aviator<\/a>. Most industry commentators seemed to believe that one of the two Hyundai<\/a> Motor Group entries would win (the Palisade and Telluride<\/a> are basically the same SUV below the metal), and as many guessed the Kia Telluride<\/a> took home the honours. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"2020
The new 2020 Jeep Gladiator combines the off-road capability of a Wrangler with the functionality of a pickup truck.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe Telluride<\/a>\u2019s interior layout and design would meet luxury SUV standards, while its refined drivetrain, confident driving dynamics and advanced technology maintain the premium experience,\u201d commented Cox Automotive Executive Publisher Karl Brauer. \u201cTraditional SUV brands take note: there\u2019s a new star player on the field.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, this year\u2019s \u201cTruck\u201d of the year finalists included the Ford Ranger<\/a> (new to us yet available in Asian markets for years), the completely new Jeep Gladiator<\/a>, and the redesigned Ram HD (Heavy Duty)<\/a>\u00a02500<\/a> and 3500<\/a>, with the winner being the impressive new Gladiator<\/a>. We\u2019d have to look way back to 1999 in order to find a Jeep<\/a> that won its category, incidentally, with that model being the Grand Cherokee<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"2020
Shown here in Rubicon trim, the Gladiator looks to match the current Wrangler’s impressive interior quality.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s not to like about a pickup truck with not only a soft-top removable roof but even removable doors? If you want massive cargo-hauling capability or the ability to tow 10,000 pounds, buy something else,\u201d said John Voelcker, an experienced automotive journalist. \u201cThe eagerly awaited Gladiator<\/a> is a one-of-a-kind truck, every bit the Jeep its Wrangler<\/a> sibling is \u2026 but with a pickup bed. How could you possibly get more American than that?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

NACTOY is an independent, non-profit organization, for your information, run by elected officers and funded by dues-paying journalist members. <\/span><\/p>\n

Learn about the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette, 2020 Kia Telluride<\/a> and 2020 Jeep Gladiator<\/a> right here on CarCostCanada<\/a>, where you can access trim, package and individual option pricing, plus rebate information and dealer invoice pricing that could save you thousands during negotiations with your local retailer. Although info about the new Corvette is not available yet, at the time of writing you could get up to $1,000 in additional incentives on the new Kia Telluride<\/a>, or factory leasing and financing rates from 4.09 percent for the new Jeep Gladiator<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Story credits: Trevor Hofmann\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo credits: Chevrolet, Kia and Jeep<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trying to guess which car, SUV and pickup will win their respective categories in the annual North American Car, Utility and Truck of the Year awards program can be more difficult some years than others, but most folks that keep their ear to the road had the 2020 lineup of winners picked out long before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-container-style":"default","site-container-layout":"default","site-sidebar-layout":"default","disable-article-header":"default","disable-site-header":"default","disable-site-footer":"default","disable-content-area-spacing":"default","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[45,415,224,212,411,412,136,138,414,292,239,294,217,62,154,137,413,218,181,416],"class_list":["post-2366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carcostcanada","tag-45","tag-american","tag-car","tag-chevrolet","tag-chevy","tag-corvette","tag-crossover","tag-cuv","tag-gladiator","tag-jeep","tag-kia","tag-north","tag-pickup","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-suv","tag-telluride","tag-truck","tag-utility","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/articles.carcostcanada.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/articles.carcostcanada.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/articles.carcostcanada.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/articles.carcostcanada.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/articles.carcostcanada.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2366"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/articles.carcostcanada.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2380,"href":"https:\/\/articles.carcostcanada.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366\/revisions\/2380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/articles.carcostcanada.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/articles.carcostcanada.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/articles.carcostcanada.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/articles.carcostcanada.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}