1965 Ford F100 Custom Cab 4x4 on 2040-cars

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North American Car, Truck and SUV of the Year finalists revealed

The finalists for the 2023 North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year Awards were announced Thursday at the L.A. Auto Show. — The Acura Integra, Genesis Electrified G80 and Nissan Z made the cut in the car category. — The Ford F-150 Lightning, Chevy Silverado ZR2 and Lordstown Endurance advanced in trucks. — And the Cadillac Lyriq, Genesis GV60 and Kia EV6 advanced among utilities.  The winners will be announced Jan. 11 in Detroit.  The finalists underscored the industryÂ’s shift to electric vehicles, as all three utilities and two of the three trucks are EVs. The finalists were culled from a list of 26 semifinalists made up of three trucks, 10 cars and 16 utility vehicles that are new this year.  Notables that missed the cut include the Mercedes EQE, Subaru WRX and Toyota GR Corolla in cars; while the Honda CR-V, Kia Sportage and Rivian R1S were among the utes that did not advance. The three trucks are the only ones eligible this year and have advanced through the voting.  50 jurors who work for media outlets across North America vote three times over the course of the year to whittle down the field, which was originally 47 vehicles. Jurors also test the semifinalists at an October group event in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Honda Civic (car), Ford Maverick (truck) and Ford Bronco (utility vehicle) were the 2022 winners. Autoblog Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is a NACTOY juror.   Featured Gallery Ford F-150 Lightning View 48 Photos Green LA Auto Show Acura Cadillac Chevrolet Ford Genesis Kia Nissan Truck SUV NACTOY Lordstown Endurance

2022 Rivian R1T vs. 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning vs. GMC Hummer EV Pickup | How they compare on paper

The 2022 Rivian R1T has arrived, ushering in the era of the production electric pickup truck. The Rivian reviews are in, and spoiler alert: They're pretty good. Curious how the new battery-powered truck stacks up to its forthcoming competitors? Well, you've come to the right place. Rivian beat all of Detroit's big automakers to market in the half-ton segment, but probably not by the margin the startup would have liked. Ford's answer is the F-150 Lightning, which is due to enter production early next year, coming hot on the heels of GM's first entry into the space – the GMC Hummer EV pickup – which is scheduled to come off the line late this fall. While all three are pickups, they're aimed at distinctly different buyers, as a perusal of their specifications will reveal. Let's have a look, shall we?   Disclaimer: Before we dive in on this one, we'd like to note that while we've made our best effort to verify the specs provided, the Rivian is brand-new and the others are still in the prototype phase. Some of these figures may be inaccurate or may simply change before production. This is all hypothetical until you can actually cross-shop them anyway, right? Cool. End disclaimer. Let's start with the powertrains. They're all battery-electric trucks engineered on a modular rear-wheel-drive configuration engineered to accommodate (theoretically, anyway) up to four electric drive units. Rivian actually makes the most use of this with a quad-motor setup producing 835 horsepower and 908 pound-feet of torque with its high-output initial model. GMC's three-motor Hummer has the R1T beat with its estimated 1,000-horsepower output, while Ford's (also three-motor) comes in with a far more modest 563 horses. This is an excellent illustration of our above point that these are not all engineered for the same crowd. Ford's F-150, which comes in at a lower price point, is meant to be far more mainstream, as its power output suggests.  This theme continues when we look at the dimensions. Despite the image "Hummer" may conjure, GMC's entry actually needs the shallowest parking space. The Rivian is right behind it, with the work-truck-spec Ford extending more than a foot longer than either. What the Hummer lacks in length, it makes up for in girth. It's the widest by a good 5 inches. The Rivian is only slightly pudgier than the F-150, but it's much closer at that end of the scale.

2014 Roush Stage 3 Mustang

Up until now, it's been some years since I managed to get behind the wheel of the hot Mustangs tuned by the folks at Roush Performance. My memories of those vehicles are fond, as the Roush up-fits usually make for better-driving examples of the iconic Ford pony, with better-tuned suspensions, excellent short-shift kits and, of course, huge additions of power. The wake-your-neighbors aural characteristics of these cars have been nothing short of outstanding, too.
But in the years since my last experience with the Roush formula, Ford's own development team has churned out some pretty potent 'Stangs. We currently live in a world where the Blue Oval will sell you a Mustang with 662 horsepower from the factory, and the recently departed Boss 302 remains one of the best Mustangs - and best sports coupes - the Autoblog crew has ever driven.
So with great-driving and hugely powerful Mustangs coming straight off the line at Ford's Flat Rock Assembly Plant, does the Roush package still offer that extra special something to make it stand out? I spent a week with a Stage 3 coupe to find out.