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Payne: How I voted for the 2024 Car, Truck and Utility of the Year
Posted by Talbot Payne on January 5, 2024
Pontiac — In Hollywood, January means Oscar nomination time. In Detroit, it’s NACTOY season.
NACTOY as in the North American Car, Truck and Utility of the Year awards, which crowned the 2024 model year winners Thursday at the fancy M1 Concourse car club. While the MotorTrend Car of the Year awards are the industry’s glitziest prize, NACTOY is its most democratic, bringing together 50 independent automotive journalists from across North America — including your Detroit News scribe.
This year, my NACTOY picks came up short — though my car and truck favorites missed by a hair. It’s the SUV category where I have a beef with my fellow jurors.
The auto industry is in the midst of a historic, government-forced transition from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles, and EVs are all the rage. But electrics are often at cross purposes with America’s largest auto segment, SUVs, where families depend on affordable, utilitarian, efficient vehicles.
EVs have largely catered to luxury buyers and motorheads — like, well, me and my $60k Tesla Model 3 Performance — who have multi-vehicle garages and only use EVs for local transit. I love to rocket from 0-60 mph in 3 seconds and drive hands-free, but when it comes to road trips, Mrs. Payne wants to take a gas car. EVs are generally much more expensive that their ICE stablemates and are less practical.
Find new roads. The 2024 Chevy Trax Activ top trim is meant to look more rugged with its black highlights and higher-profile tires – all for under $25k. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
My Detroit News SUVs of 2024 are the gas-powered Chevy Trax and Buick Envista — sibling GM utes that are an impressive value at under $30k, yet still offer state-of-the-art tech and roomy interiors to accommodate the Payne family of four. Yet, those vehicles — along with other practical ICE chariots like the affordable Dodge Hornet, stylish Mazda CX-90 and rock-chewing Jeep Wrangler — were passed over as finalists for three niche electric SUVs: the $68,000 Genesis Electrified GV70, $56k Kia EV9 and $34k Hyundai Kona EV (and sister $25k Kona ICE).
Staring at the finalists, I felt like the Oscar fan scratching his head as to how small-release “CODA” beat out blockbusters “Dune,” “Free Guy” and “Spiderman: No Way Home” to win the 2021 Oscar for Best Picture.
The Kia EV9 won in a landslide with 320 points over the Genesis (98 points) and Hyundai (82) points. My fellow jurors took to heart the NACTOY mantra that the “awards honor vehicles that have raised the standards and have become new benchmarks in their class” — and the edgy EV9 is certainly noteworthy for its tech-tastic interior and being the first mainstream, three-row electric SUV.
In front of Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, the 2024 Kia EV9 GT-Line shows off its sculpted, sci-fi looks. Detroit News auto columnist Henry Payne took the mainstream segment’s first, three-row SUV through the snow to northern Michigan. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
But it’s also a whopping 20 grand more expensive than its ICE brother, the Telluride (which I voted for as 2020 SUV of Year), while offering similar space and way less practically for family road trips (as I documented in a Detroit News review). Affluent folks in Malibu will buy it.
I gave all 10 of my points to the Kona, which impressed with upscale style and digital screens for just $25k (and an EV version, if you prefer, costing almost 40% more).
The car and truck classes were more to my liking.
Car of the Year was an epic battle between two successful movie — er, auto — franchises: Honda Accord and Toyota Prius. I gave seven of my 10 allotted points to Accord and three to Prius given the Honda’s massive appeal (almost 200,00 sales in 2023) and ability to reinvent itself over 11 generations to maintain its relevance even in an SUV-obsessed marketplace. The 2024 model is its best-looking yet with a roomy cabin that shrinks around you when you want to have fun in the twisties.
Prius has suffered mightily from the SUV-to-sedan transformation, with sales cratering from 236,000 to 31,000 over the past 10 years. But that’s also because the Prius made hybrids cool and hybrids are standard issue in the Toyota SUV lineup, rather than the Prius standing alone. With its improved looks and handling, Prius is likely to remain a brand halo for some time.
Prius notched 192 points from the jury with the Accord second at 159 points — just edging out the lovely Hyundai Ioniq 6, a worthy electric competitor to the Tesla Model 3.
American automakers were shut out of the car and SUV categories, but they dominate in trucks. The 2024 awards were notable, however, for what wasn’t eligible.
Speaking of movies, the Tesla Cybertruck looked like it rolled off a “Blade Runner” set in 2023 and debuted as the world’s most talked about vehicle. Alas, Tesla doesn’t play ball with NACTOY and didn’t make the sci-fi pickup available for media testing. Jurors expected a mid-size truck battle between the Chevy Colorado, Ford Ranger and Toyota Tacoma — but only the Chevy was eligible given that sales of the new Ranger and Taco were pushed back into 2024.
The Colorado is representative of the trio’s comprehensive upgrades in liveability, technology and exterior styling and it got all 10 of my votes. I judged its much pricier competitors — $47,000-$100,00 Ford F-250 Super Duty and $75,000 Chevy Silverado EV Work Truck — to be less-attainable, more work-place focused than the everyday Colorado
But my fellow jurors split into competing pickup, heavy duty and EV camps with the Ford winning by a nose with 189 points over Colorado (163) and Silverado EV (148).
I defer to fellow juror Jack Nerad to explain: “The Ford Super Duty retains its leadership in the heavy-duty pickup truck category with impressive towing, payload, torque and horsepower figures. Its four engine choices are highlighted by the new standard 6.8-liter gasoline V-8 and 6.7-liter Power Stroke diesel V-8.”
We jurors began this process — the 30th year of the prestigious award — with 52 nominees covering 17 new nameplates, multiple drivetrains and everything from electric trucks to sportscars.
The 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray is the first hybrid, all-wheel-drive super car from Corvette. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Maybe NACTOY should have more categories, like the Oscars. What if, for example, we had a Performance Car of the Year category featuring 2024 nominees Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray, Ford Mustang, Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Porsche 911 Dakar and Toyota GR Corolla?
Huzzah. Now that would add a little Hollywood sex appeal.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.