2024 NACTOY Winners Announced; Toyota, Ford and Kia Take Gold

Today, winners of the 2024 North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year (NACTOY) Awards were announced at the M1 Concourse in Pontiac, Michigan. Voted as the best in their respective categories, the winners are the Toyota Prius, the Ford Super Duty and the Kia EV9.

These models were selected from a list of nine finalists, unveiled November 2023 at the Los Angeles Auto Show after being whittled down from 52 candidates. Winners were selected by a panel of 50 jurors, including MotorWeek’s John Davis, who presented the award for Best Utility at this year’s award ceremony.

The Toyota Prius, which also includes the plug-in hybrid Prius Prime, was voted as the Best Car for 2024, competing in the final round against the Honda Accord and Hyundai IONIQ 6. Both the Prius and Prius Prime received outstanding praise during their respective Road Tests, taking the gold in MotorWeek’s 2023 Drivers’ Choice Awards “Best Family Car” category. Simply put, the Prius family brings a lot to the table for buyers of all kinds.

“With the new generation Toyota Prius family, including the Prius Prime plug-in hybrid, Toyota now has a highly efficient 5-door car series that warrants consideration by any family-minded buyer,” said Davis. “No longer noted for its odd, if standout styling, the latest Prius is a great looking design that is also impressively roomy and comfortable, not to mention still amazingly frugal with fuel. With the new Prime, Toyota has expanded its pure-EV driving range to the point that many buyers will be able to use it as an all-electric commuter, relying on the normal hybrid powertrain only for longer travel. To that point, the Prius Prime is also a way for EV-minded buyers to have one vehicle that can do both long and short-haul driving without concerns over range or available charging stations.”

The American truck market may be as fierce as ever, especially considering many families look to full-size pickups as high-rolling people haulers in of themselves. And with a seemingly rampant interest in off-roading and overlanding, pickups of all sizes have gotten a lot of love as of late.

But if there’s one pickup truck that North Americans keep coming back to, it’s the Ford F-Series, and this year’s NACTOY “Best Truck” award went specifically to the Super Duty lineup. You don’t need us to tell you that the F-Series is a hot commodity, and with a new generation Super Duty entering the fray in 2023, things have only gotten better. In fact, the Super Duty was part of the reason why F-Series took MotorWeek’s honors for “Best Fullsize Truck” in our 2023 Drivers’ Choice Awards, too. This victory is a follow up to the Blue Oval’s win in last year’s NACTOY awards, in which the F-150 Lightning took home the gold for “Best Truck.” This year, the Super Duty competed against two fantastic offerings from GM: The Chevrolet Colorado and Silverado EV.

And in NACTOY’s final category, Kia once again pulled out a victory with their EV9 all-electric utility, following up last year’s win in the same category with the EV6. This year, Kia was competing against two familiar manufacturers: Genesis, with their Electrified GV70, and Hyundai, with their Kona and Kona EV. Originally, the Volvo EX30 was in the running; however, due to the fact that models would not reach customers until 2024, it was deemed ineligible for this year’s awards.

“The Kia EV9 mid-size sport-utility vehicle is the first all-electric three-row family hauler that closely matches the needs of price expectations of larger mainstream families,” said Davis. “While it is still priced at a premium over comparable gas-powered models, including Kia’s successful Telluride, the EV9 narrows that gap with a base price of under $60,000. Its combination of range and fast charging also makes it a more than reasonable choice for most weekly household duties. Plus, in an emergency, it has the capability of being a standby home power generator. Driving the EV9 is also such a familiar experience that you tend to forget that there are no pistons pumping under the hood.”

With this year’s NACTOY awards concluded, we now look ahead to our very own MotorWeek Drivers’ Choice Awards. We’ll share our own winners for 2024, and it’s all happening very soon!