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2027 Car, Truck, Utility nominees announced amid ‘product desert’
Posted by Talbot Payne on September 16, 2026
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
The North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year Awards judges announced their nominees for 2027 this week amid a drought of new product.
Dubbed the Best of 2027, the 25 new vehicles set the field for NACTOY’s 2027 awards season.
Five cars, four trucks, and 16 utility vehicles will vie for the prestigious trophy, the only award presented by an independent jury of auto journalists. The list boasts eight models from Detroit-based brands, including all four in the truck category (including newcomer Troy-based Slate) and four in the SUV category.
The 2027 NACTOY awards come against a backdrop of industry disruption after state and federal government efforts to force automakers to sell electric vehicles and sunset their internal-combustion-engine lineups. Automakers are retooling to meet market demand as consumers haven’t warmed to EVs, government mandates were withdrawn, and federal subsidies subsided.
“Automakers (are) tearing up product plans built for an EV future that has not arrived,” reported the Murphy Automotive Product Pipeline this week, authored by respected ex-Bank of America “Car Wars” analyst John Murphy. “Automakers face the worst three-year new-product drought on record and intensifying global competition and policy uncertainty are raising questions about which brands ultimately survive.”
The NACTOY Best of 2027 represents shifting industry trends. Just 10 years after NACTOY expanded its categories from car and truck to include sport utility vehicles, SUVs dominate the list. A decade ago, Best of 2017 included 15 cars, 12 SUVs and four trucks.
While Detroit automakers still rule the U.S. truck market, no Motown makers are represented in the car category for 2027 — a segment they have largely exited. About 30% of nominees are from U.S brands, consistent with 2017 — though best-selling EV automaker Tesla is conspicuously missing despite offering a new three-row version of the Model Y, the seventh best-selling vehicle in market. Tesla does not offer vehicles for NACTOY testing.