Each of the 54 jurors (of which yours truly is one) had 10 points to distribute as we saw fit among the three finalists in each category.
DETROIT, MICH.—The Korean company Hyundai was the big winner at this year’s North American Car of the Year awards, taking both the “Car” prize with its upscale brand Genesis G70 sedan, and the “Utility” honours with the Hyundai KONA crossover.
Fiat-Chrysler prevented a Korean clean sweep when the Ram 1500 pickup won the “Truck” title.
Each of the 54 jurors (of which yours truly is one) had 10 points to distribute as we saw fit among the three finalists in each category.
In two of the cases, the vote totals weren’t close.
In Car, the Genesis took 318 points, the Volvo S/V60 120, and the Honda Insight 102.
In truck, the Ram scored a massive 407, compared to 69 for the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and 64 for its very close cousin the GMC Sierra 1500.
Utility (a.k.a. SUVs and the like) saw the tightest finish, with the KONA (a combined entry for the gasoline and battery-powered electric versions) earning 203 points, beating Jaguar’s I-PACE (181) and Acura RDX (156).
My votes weren’t all that surprising, other than that I was closer to my colleagues than usual.
I gave all 10 of my truck points to the very impressive Ram, and six out of 10 car points to the Genesis in Car, the other four going to the Volvo.
Since no one but me seems to understand that battery-powered electric aren’t going anywhere any time soon, I saw no point — and gave no points — to the fully electric I-PACE in the Utility category.
I gave seven points to the Acura and three to the KONA, all intended for the gasoline-powered version.
Keyword: Hyundai wins big at 2019 North American Car of the Year Awards