DETROIT — After an intensive, year-long jury process designed to identify the best-in-class vehicles for the upcoming model year. The winners of the NACTOY honors for 2026 have been named.

The winners are:
— North American Car of the Year: Dodge Charger
— North American Truck of the Year: Ford Maverick Lobo
— North American Utility Vehicle of the Year: Hyundai Palisade

NACTOY jurors have spent the last year test-driving, researching and evaluating vehicles on criteria including automotive innovation, design, safety, performance, technology, driver satisfaction, user experience and value.

I’m a big fan of automakers being a bit adventurous in their designs, as it happens far too rarely.

One such example is the Hyundai Santa Cruz, which is a car-truck combo offering, taking a portion of the Hyundai Tucson SUV and adding a compact truck bed behind.

First launched for 2022, it’s still around for the 2026 model year, and I recently got to spend some time behind the wheel of a 2026 Santa Cruz.

Read on for a full report on how it holds up in this relatively small segment, where its only true rival is the Ford Maverick (semi-rivals include the Honda Ridgeline and Jeep Gladiator).