I

mitation, they say, is the sincerest form of flattery. Well,

Bob Petersen would have been pretty flattered to see

how often the Big Idea he came up with 70 years ago—

the MotorTrend Car of the Year—has been imitated.

In the United States and around the world, variants

of our Of The Year awards are now legion.

But, I’d argue, nobody does it better than we do. Why?

An evaluation process that’s transparent, considered,

and consistent, combined with a ton of hard work by an

awful lot of people.

It starts and finishes with our six criteria—advancement

in design, engineering excellence, efficiency, safety, value,

and performance of intended function. In between is a

rigorous process.

Every contender was put through a full battery of

performance tests by our road test team—this year they

covered 96 miles on the dragstrip alone—to provide accu-

rate performance data for the judges. The judges arrive

at a fully equipped proving ground—Hyundai/Kia’s near

Mojave, California, for Car of the Year; Honda’s is just up

the road outside California City for SUV of the Year; and

FCA’s a couple dozen miles from Kingman, Arizona, for

Truck of the Year—and participate in presentations that

highlight key features and technologies, pricing and rivals,

and design concept and execution.

Then each judge drives every contender at the proving

grounds, working through their own series of evaluations.

With their various tracks and special

surfaces, the proving grounds allow the

judges to explore limit handling and

concentrate on evaluating attributes such

as noise and refinement, off-road traction,

or fully laden towing performance, in complete safety.

These proving ground sessions easily weed out those

vehicles that, against the criteria, are most obviously not

potential Of The Year award winners. We then conduct

on-the-road analysis in nearby urban areas to get a sense

of these vehicles’ real-world abilities.

Under these conditions, the focus shifts to evaluating

minutiae such as the smoothness of throttle response and

gearshifts under light throttle loads, the effectiveness of

safety systems such as lane keep assist and smart cruise

control, and how intuitive the infotainment interface is

to use while the vehicle is moving. The winner is then

chosen by secret ballot, after hours of deliberations and

spirited argument.

You’ve probably noticed a theme here: Every judge gets

up close and personal with every Of The Year contender,

kicking their tires, checking the test data, cranking stereo

volume knobs, opening and closing trunks and tailgates,

sliding into endless back seats, and then driving them back

to back on the same roads under the same conditions.

Angus MacKenzie

p

i

c

t

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r

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There are very few new vehicle awards given by automo-

tive media anywhere in the world where the process of

choosing the winner is so openly documented and care-

fully controlled. Some of these other awards, incredibly,

allow judges to vote for vehicles regardless of whether

they’ve actually driven them.

This year’s three Of The Year programs required a total

of 86 people to execute, a crew that occupied a total of 67

hotel rooms over 21 nights. In addition to judges, we had

photographers and videographers braving dust, snakes,

scorpions, and heat—the temperature topped 100 degrees

most days—to capture imagery for use

online, in print, and on our video-on-

demand and cable TV platforms. We

had specialist car wranglers who made

sure contenders were kept fueled

or charged, and we had fresh tires when needed. And

because, like the military, MotorTrend marches on its

stomach, one editor was assigned the important task of

making sure we were all fed and watered.

By the time you read this, our social media team will

have created hundreds of related posts on our social

platforms. And our editors will have written thousands

of words that effectively provide reviews of every new car,

truck, and SUV launched in America over the past year.

It’s easy to win a popularity contest. It’s hard to win a

MotorTrend Car, Truck, or SUV of the Year award because,

simply, what we do is hard to do. Q

You’re looking

at 33 cars

representing

21 models

contending

for our Golden

Calipers.

To be able

to step foot

down there,

MT staffers are

required to take

safety tests, sign

NDAs, and affix

tamper-telling

tape to mobile

phone cameras.

NEWS I OPINION I GOSSIP I STUFF

Car or Truck or SUV of the Year:

Why nobody else can do it

The Big Picture

102 MOTORTREND.COM JANUARY 2020