The 2022 North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year (NACTOY) awards finalists were announced at the Los Angeles Auto Show on Wednesday, November 17th.

NACTOY’s jurors, including MotorWeek’s own John Davis, voted on 23 semifinalists across three categories-- car, truck and utility vehicle-- narrowing selections down to nine vehicles. 

2022 Honda Civic sedan Touring

For North American Car of the Year, the jury has selected the Honda Civic compact, the Lucid Air EV sedan  and the Volkswagen Golf Mk VIII compact (Golf R and GTI models). 

2022 Rivian R1T

North American Truck of the Year includes two compact pickups, the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz, as well as one EV midsize pickup, the Rivian R1T. 

2022 Ford Bronco

And for North American Utility Vehicle of the Year, NACTOY’s finalists include the Ford Bronco off-road SUV, the Genesis GV70 luxury SUV and the Hyundai IONIQ 5 all-electric SUV.

“These nine vehicles represent an unusually excellent and diverse group of finalists,” said Gary Witzenburg, president of NACTOY. He went on to say that this year’s finalists exemplify how electric vehicles (EV’s) are becoming more available to consumers across different vehicle segments.

Criteria for judging includes innovation, design, safety, performance, technology, driver satisfaction and value. Each judge has tested and evaluated eligible vehicles, both new and substantially changed from previous model years.

The NACTOY jury is composed of 50 automotive journalists from across the industry. It was founded in 1994, making NACTOY the longest-running new vehicle awards not associated with a single outlet.

Final voting will take place from December 30th-January 5th, 2022.