North American Car of the Year shortlist shows how market noise keeps drowning out substance
The Los Angeles Auto Show offered another reminder that the North American Car of the Year shortlist is not automatically a seal of excellence. It is more a snapshot of an industry swinging between electrification anxiety and a fondness for old fashioned V8 nostalgia.
Nine models reached the final, split into three categories: cars, pickups and a catch all group politely called utility vehicles, the American way of describing crossovers and other shapes that disappear from showrooms as quickly as they arrive. Dodge, Honda, Nissan, Ford, Ram, Hyundai and Lucid made the cut.
In the car category the fight is between the Dodge Charger, the newly presented Nissan Sentra and the long absent Honda Prelude returning for a brief encore. One brings the rumble of a V8, another promises inexpensive practicality and the third leans on coupé romance with a nostalgic tint. The American jury has never cared much for consistency. It prefers contrasts.
The pickup trio is dominated by Ram, which pushed both the heavy duty 2500 and the revived 1500 Hemi into the final. The third place goes to the Ford Maverick Lobo, a familiar compact given a sportier expression to distract from its real identity as an economical workhorse dressed up for a night out.
If there is a category where the outcome feels predictable, it is utility. America’s best utility vehicle for 2026 will be electrified, because all three finalists are exactly that. The group includes the sizeable Lucid Gravity, the revived Nissan Leaf and the Hyundai Palisade with a hybrid option. The selection speaks for itself. Manufacturers push electricity, buyers still hesitate and the jury ticks the box that political winds encourage.
The NACTOY jury is made up of journalists from the United States and Canada. Winners will be announced on 14 January at the Detroit Auto Show. European readers will already know their own single Car of the Year choice, confirmed five days earlier in Brussels.
