Also Dude, Truck Of The Year Is Not The Preferred Nomenclature. Truck/Utility, Please

by Derek Kreindler

January 31st, 2012 2:52 PM

also dude truck of the year is not the preferred nomenclature truck utility please

The shifty definition of “truck” for the NACOTY Truck of the year awards means that car-based vehicles like the Ford Explorer and Range Rover Evoque are eligible to win the “Truck of the Year Award” – but not for much longer.

The NACOTY jury has given crossovers an out, by re-branding the award as “Truck/Utility of the Year”. Let’s face it – if the award were restricted to just body-on-frame type truck or SUVs, the pool of candidates would be pretty limited. If you’re a die-hard truck guy, there’s still the Texas Truck Rodeo.

#CarOfTheYear #Crossover #SUV #TruckOfTheYear #Trucks

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10 of 13 comments

Replica on Jan 31, 2012

well, that's just like, your opinion, man.

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- Eddie_515 on Jan 31, 2012
  
  The ford abides...
  
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Trk2 on Jan 31, 2012

"car-based vehicles like the Ford Explorer and Range Rover Evoque" Is your point that the Jeep Cherokee also has always been a car? Is there a grandfather clause for the Cherokee that I am unaware of? Or is this just pointless semantics?

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- Bikegoesbaa on Jan 31, 2012
  
  What car is the Cherokee or Grand Cherokee based on? Or, to put it another way, what car can I buy that shares a platform with the Cherokee or Grand Cherokee?
  
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- Pete Zaitcev on Jan 31, 2012
  
  @bikegoesbaa You can buy a Mercedes ML after 2011. But yeah.
  
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- Photog02 on Jan 31, 2012
  
  No... but there is a Ford Taurus or Lincoln MKS that you can buy as a relative to your Explorer, or a Ford Mondeo that you can buy as a complement to your Rangie. Seriously, though, I think the point is that these cute-UVs were based on in-production car platforms. The Cherokee (XJ) and Grand Cherokee (ZJ-present) were not based on automobile platforms and were instead designed as utility vehicles.
  
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- Brian E on Jan 31, 2012
  
  @photog02 So what? Shouldn't utility be the measure of a utility?
  
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- Jellybean on Jan 31, 2012
  
  @photog02 Platforms Shalforms.
  
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Daviel on Jan 31, 2012

That's not a truck. The F-150 is the truck of the year - every year. Ford IS the best in Texas

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Niky on Feb 01, 2012

We've just finished the paperwork for our local Car-Of-The-Year, and the arguments about ladders versus unibodies never ends. On my side, I don't see the point in separating the two anymore... except as an easy out for uncompetitive vehicles to garner an award or two.

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