North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year Vehicles Named

Voting for the North American Car and Truck/Utility of the Year occurs in three stages, each of which focuses the jury on a smaller number of vehicles.

Early in the fall, the jurors consider all the new or substantially changed vehicles and pick a dozen or so cars and trucks, from what is called the long list, that they think deserve additional consideration. This vote results in what is called the short list.

Early in December the jurors vote on those short-list vehicles, sending their ballots directly to Deloitte & Touche in Detroit. On those ballots jurors are given 25 points to distribute among the cars and 25 points to distribute among the trucks. However, no more than 10 points may be given to a single vehicle and those maximum points may be given to only one truck and one car. Jurors must use all their points.

That vote narrows the field to three cars and three trucks. Those finalists are disclosed at a luncheon held by the Automotive Press Association in Detroit.

Then the jurors vote again on those three cars and three trucks.

In that vote jurors have 10 points for the cars and 10 points for the trucks. All 10 points may be given to a single vehicle or they may be divided up. All the points must be used.