The 2023 North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year have been revealed and there are a few surprises.
Jumping right into the results, the Acura Integra was named the North American Car of the Year. The fancy Honda with a hatch beat out fellow finalists including the Nissan Z and Genesis G80 EV. Even more perplexing, it bested semi-finalists such as the BMW i4 eDrive40, the Mercedes C-Class and EQE, the Subaru WRX, and the Toyota GR Corolla.
Driven: The 2023 Toyota GR Corolla Is The New King Of Hot Hatches
While plenty of people will disagree with the results, the Integra was praised for being fun to drive and offering a “slick-shifting manual transmission.” It’s hard to argue with that, but the Honda Civic Si starts at $28,500 while the manual Integra will set you back $36,300.
Putting cars aside, kind of, the Kia EV6 was named North American Utility Vehicle of the Year. It won out over the Cadillac Lyriq and Genesis GV60. It also bested semi-finalists such as the Audi Q4 e-tron, BMW iX xDrive50, Honda CR-V, Lexus RX, and Rivian R1S.
This win is more understandable as the EV6 has been well-received, offers up to 310 miles (499 km) of range, and starts at $48,700. However, the model is more notable for offering an impressive GT variant with 576 hp (430 kW / 584 PS).
Lastly, the Ford F-150 Lightning was named North American Truck of the Year. This wasn’t a surprise as only three trucks were eligible for the award in the first place and competitors included the Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 as well as the Lordstown Endurance. The latter truck barely made it into production, while the former is simply an off-road focused variant.
That being said, the F-150 Lightning is the first mainstream electric truck and Ford can’t build them fast enough. Unfortunately, multiple price increases have eroded its value.
