The North American Car of the Year award (NACOTY) are probably the biggest honor bestowed over a car on yearly basis, apart from the prestigious World Car of the Year Awards (WCOTY). The 2017 season of NACOTY was an exciting season as the Chevrolet Bolt Electric Vehicle won the 2017 NACOTY, giving the electric cars a big push.
This year again, there were two main contenders who were considered to be the strong competitiors for the 2018 NACOTY – the newly launched Nissan Leaf EV and the Tesla Model 3. The Nissan Leaf 2018 was too late to join the 2018 NACOTY and couldn’t feature among the contenders. So it was all up to the Tesla Model 3 to win the crown for EVs in 2018.
Sadly, Tesla Motors has pulled out of the race to the competition at the very last moment and their reasoning seems far from being completely straight-forward. According to Detroit News, Tesla’s reason for withdrawing the Model 3 from NACOTY running, is weird and it says Tesla is “…focused on scaling up production and could not have a car available for jury testing.”
This reason has created a uproar in the market as critics are saying why couldn’t Tesla spare one single car for the event? No body is buying this excuse. Another part of the statement read - “we don’t want early copies of the Model 3 to be in 3rd party hands just yet”, perhaps some software issues have yet to be updated, as the car’s deliveries has only just begun.
But even more upsetting is the fact that with the withdrawal of the Model 3, there will be no electric car in the running of the 2018 NACOTY. The only remaining semifinalists in the “car” (all categories, as a matter of fact) category are either gasoline/diesel fueled cars or cars like Hyundai IONIQ which is part of the line/family of cars which includes a plug-in version. But we won’t see a standalone electric win this year.
This is also the first time in the award’s 25-year history, that not a single Detroit-based automaker is nominated for Car of the Year. This means people are moving towards SUVs and utility cars from sedans in America. General Motors leads all manufacturers with four nominees in the truck and utility categories. Ford has only 2 nominees this year - Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator.
Here’s the list of 2018 NACOTY semifinalists, as assembled by the Detroit News.
Car Of the Year
2018 Alfa Romeo Giulia
2018 Audi A5 Sportback
2017 BMW 5-series
2018 Honda Accord
2017 Hyundai Ioniq
2018 Kia Rio
2018 Kia Stinger
2018 Lexus LC500
2017 Porsche Panamera
2018 Subaru Impreza
2018 Toyota Camry
Utility of the year
2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio
2018 Audi Q5/S5
2018 BMW X3
2018 Buick Enclave
2018 Chevrolet Equinox
2018 Chevrolet Traverse
2018 Honda Odyssey
2017 Jeep Compass
2017 Kia Niro
2018 Land Rover Discovery
2017 Mazda CX-5
2018 Subaru Crosstrek
2018 VW Atlas
2018 VW Tiguan
2018 Volvo XC60
Truck of the Year
2018 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2
2018 Ford Expedition
2018 Lincoln Navigator
Click here to read more about the Tesla Model 3 in detail!
Source: Detroit News