DETROIT — The compact Ford Maverick was named 2022 North American Truck of the Year while the Bronco was named Utility Vehicle of the Year and the Honda Civic took Car of the Year honors.
It's the second-straight year Ford has earned two of the three NACTOY awards, and marks the third win for the Civic since the awards were introduced in 1994.
Ford’s back-to-back utility and truck of the year honors come as the automaker has transformed its lineup in recent years, eliminating sedans and focusing on high-margin, popular products.
“I think this is a recognition of all those key decisions that were made to create a new portfolio that meets our customers’ needs,” Kumar Galhotra, Ford’s president of the Americas and International Markets Group, told reporters.
The winners, announced Tuesday, were selected through a three-part voting process by a jury of 50 automotive journalists from U.S. and Canadian media. The vehicles were picked from three finalists in each category revealed in November.
In addition to the Maverick, truck finalists were the Hyundai Santa Cruz and Rivian R1T. Other utility finalists were the Genesis GV70 and Hyundai Ioniq 5. The Lucid Air and Volkswagen Golf Mk VIII (Golf R/Golf GTI) were the other car finalists.
The Maverick is the newest of the three. It went on sale in September and Ford delivered 13,258 of the vehicles for the full-year. The Bronco went on sale in June and Ford sold 35,023 units.
The Honda Civic, redesigned for the 2022 model year, was the top-selling compact sedan in 2021 with deliveries of 263,787 vehicles. This marks the third NACTOY win for the Civic, including 2016 and 2006.
The 2022 finalists were selected from a pool of 23 semifinalists, narrowed down from an original slate of 36 eligible vehicles. Richard Truett, an engineering reporter for Automotive News, is among the jurors.
Utility Vehicle of the Year became a separate award in 2017.
Last year, Ford snagged top utility and truck honors for the Mustang Mach-E and redesigned F-150. Hyundai rounded out the 2021 winners with the Elantra sedan.
