Ford Maverick, Bronco win truck, utility of the year awards

For the second year in a row, vehicles from Ford Motor Co. took two of the three North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year awards.

The company’s Maverick compact pickup won truck of the year, while its Bronco off-road SUV earned the utility of the year. Honda’s redesigned Civic compact car won the car of the year.

Fifty automotive journalists from the U.S. and Canada are judges for the three awards, which are announced every January. They’re chosen from dozens of candidates and must be new or substantially changed for the current model year. Automakers often use the awards in advertising.

The judges evaluate finalists on value, innovation, design, performance, safety, technology and driver satisfaction. The selection process started last summer.

In addition to the Bronco, Utility of the Year finalists included the GV70 from Hyundai’s Genesis luxury brand, and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 electric SUV.

Truck finalists included the Maverick as well as its main small pickup competitor, the Hyundai Santa Cruz. Also included was the Rivian R1T large pickup from the electric vehicle startup.

In addition to the Civic, car finalists included the Lucid Air electric sedan, and the Volkswagen Golf GTI and R sports cars.

Also at the announcement event in Detroit Tuesday put on by the Automotive Press Association, organizers of the big Detroit auto show announced that it will return to the city in September for the first time since 2019.

North American International Auto Show Executive Director Rod Alberts said the show would be both indoors and outdoors in and around the downtown Detroit Huntington Place convention center. It will take place from Sept. 14 through 25.

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