Our second annual Motor Trend Awards issue is an extra-special, extra-thick issue devoted to our four signature awards: Car, Truck, SUV, and Person of the Year — pick it up on newsstands on November 25.
We began awarding Car of the Year back in 1949, Motor Trend’s first year of publication. Since then, the award has become the gold standard in the industry and expanded to call out the coming year’s top performing truck, SUV, and, as of last year, automotive executive.
As Angus details, a special relationship has given us the ability to hone and elevate our Car of the Year program over the past 10 years. The decade we’ve spent at Hyundai Motor Group California Proving Ground has been so rewarding that we’ve expanded the use of such facilities across all of our vehicle award programs.
We had already started this process a few years ago with Truck of the Year, as truck capabilities grew broader and deeper. We sampled the proving grounds of leading manufacturers—including Nissan and Continental Tire—before finding the right mix of location and capabilities at FCA’s Arizona Proving Ground.
Last year, when the total number of SUVs and crossovers at SUV of the Year eclipsed the number of cars at Car of the Year, we knew we had to expand that program, as well. So we approached American Honda, who had just started reinvesting in its long-dormant Honda Proving Center, for permission to run SUVs on its oval and special surfaces.
Kaizen, a manufacturing principle pioneered by Toyota that essentially means continuous improvement, is how we roll at Motor Trend. As auto manufacturers continue to invest in and incrementally improve their vehicles, we must better our evaluation process, as well. We do so not only by adding testing methods and facilities but also by bringing on new, experienced hands.
Alisa Priddle came aboard in February, and after her run through SUV and Car of the Year, she told me she was deeply impressed with our disciplined and informed approach. Chris Bacarella, who joined up in April, was taken aback by the volume of notes and sheer force of effort required to put on one OTY event, let alone three. And Mark Rechtin jumped into the awards cycle one week after he joined the team, before he even had a chance to unpack his boxes. His thoughts about our process are in his latest “Reference Mark” column.
In this kaizen spirit, we also dramatically changed the way we present our three Of the Year stories. For the past few years, we’ve loaded up each page with data, dimensions, and a short review of each contender. There was little prose on how each program progressed, and unless you read closely and occasionally between the lines, you could miss the bigger picture. So this year, we cut back a bit on the reviews and numbers and added a running narrative across the bottom of each page in the print magazine. This bifurcated reading experience allows you to jump around all of the new 2017 models or simply read the issue straight through to learn how we cut the field and arrive at our winners.
This is new for all of us this year, so in the spirit of a better reading experience next year, I’d appreciate any feedback you may have. Let me know on Twitter, @edloh. Enjoy our 2017 Motor Trend Awards coverage.
The Motor Trend Awards
2017 Motor Trend Car of the Year Contenders
Buick LaCrosse
Chevrolet Cruze
Chevrolet Volt
Fiat 124 Spider
Ford Focus RS
Honda Accord
Hyundai Elantra
Jaguar XF
Kia Cadenza
Kia Forte
Mercedes-Benz C300 Coupe 4Matic
Mercedes-Benz E300
Mini Clubman
Toyota Prius Two Eco
2017 Car of the Year Finalists
Audi A4
Cadillac CT6
Chevrolet Bolt
Chrysler Pacifica
Genesis G90
Jaguar XE
Porsche 911
Tesla Model S 60/75
Volvo S90
2017 Motor Trend SUV of the Year Contenders
Acura MDX
BMW X1
Cadillac XT5
Ford Escape
Infiniti QX30
Kia Sportage
Lexus LX 570
Lexus RX
Mercedes-Benz GLS-Class
Nissan Armada
Toyota Highlander SE
Toyota Land Cruiser
Toyota RAV4
2017 SUV of the Year Finalists
Audi Q7
GMC Acadia All Terrain
Jaguar F-Pace
Mazda CX-9
Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class
Tesla Model X
2017 Motor Trend Truck of the Year Contenders
Nissan Titan
Ram 2500/3500 HD
Nissan Titan XD
2017 Truck of the Year Finalists
Ford F-150
Honda Ridgeline
Ford Super Duty
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