Tag Archives: Greg Migliore

Which Vehicles Might Take NACTOY Trophies for 2025?

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Four North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year jurors talk about the semifinalists for the awards in a lively discussion. . .

By Gary S. Vasilash

The North American Car, Truck and Utility Vehicle of the Year (NACTOY) Award has been around since 1994. Back then, of course, utility vehicles, by and large, weren’t what they are now, vehicles, to borrow a phrase from Alfred Sloan, for every purse and purpose. So there was no category for CUVs/SUVs at the start.

But in 2017 the decision was made to add the Utility category.

That year there were three finalists:

  • Chrysler Pacifica
  • Jaguar F-Pace
  • Mazda CX-90

Oddly, the Pacifica won. (Not that it didn’t deserve an award and it is not like minivans aren’t the most package-efficient architectures, but if were to run the elementary school test, wherein you’d show a picture of a Pacifica and a Wrangler to a 10-year-old and say, “Which is the sport utility vehicle,” odds are the Pacifica wouldn’t get the nod.)

Nowadays, the Utility category is the most-contested, by far.

The Jurors

You might be wondering just who picks the winners.

Obviously, the MotorTrend Car of the Year is selected by that publication. And there is no mistake the Car and Driver 10 Best are selected by the journalists for Car and Driver.

In the case of NACTOY, there are 50 journalists from the U.S. and Canada, a mix of people working in all types of media, from ink-on-paper to YouTube to radio.

Clearly there is an array of opinions generated by this group.

Three of the current NACTOY jurors are Henry Payne, car critic for the Detroit News (yes, he reviews trucks and utilities, too), Mark Phelan, who reviews vehicles for the Detroit Free Press, and auto writer Greg Migliore.

Oh, and I am a juror, too.

I brought the three of them together to talk about the “NACTOY Best of 2025,” a.k.a., the semifinalists, on “Autoline After Hours.”

That group of vehicles will be winnowed down to three finalists in each category. The finalists will be announced in LA on November 21, and the winners at the Detroit Auto Show on January 10, 2025.

The Vehicles

The vehicles in question at the moment are:

Cars

  • BMW 3 Series
  • BMW M5
  • Cadillac Celestiq
  • Dodge Charger EV
  • Fiat 500e
  • Honda Civic Hybrid
  • Kia K4
  • Mercedes-AMG E Class
  • Porsche Panamera
  • Toyota Camry

Trucks

  • Ford Ranger
  • GMC Sierra EV
  • Ram 1500
  • Rivian R1T
  • Toyota Tacoma

Utilities

  • Chevrolet Equinox EV
  • Honda Prologue*
  • Volvo EX90
  • Hyundai Ioniq 5 N
  • Hyundai Santa Fe
  • Jeep Wagoneer S
  • Lincoln Nautilus
  • Porsche Macan EV
  • Toyota Land Cruiser
  • VW ID. Buzz

So if you’re thinking about getting a new vehicle, you might want to watch the show.

If you’re interested in a lively discussion of the offerings made by the auto industry, you certainly want to watch it.

And you can see it here.

By the way: Henry Payne goes out on the proverbial limb and names the vehicles that he thinks will win the awards. While you could simply slide that fast-forward dot on YouTube and bring it toward the end of the show to see Henry’s predictions, you’ll want to watch the whole thing to see his reasoning to get to those conclusions.

The EV Outlook: How Many People Taking Buyouts Are Likely to Buy One?

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By Gary S. Vasilash

Last week GM announced that in its efforts to “permanently bring down structured costs” it would request that its salaried employees in the U.S. seriously consider taking a buyout. In January GM execs said that their goal is to reduce $2-billion in spending. By taking a number of its 58,000 of salaried employees off the books, it reckons it will get closer to its goal.

Given that in 2022 its full-year revenue was $156.7 billion, net income attributable to stockholders $9.9-billion and EBIT-adjusted was a record $14.5 billion, it would seem to be in good shape.

But there is something that GM and all other OEMs are grappling with, and that’s the billions of dollars that need to be invested in developing electric vehicles as well as creating the means by which the vehicles and the batteries used to store the energy for those vehicles can be produced.

It is a huge—and expensive—undertaking.

And so when they look at their books and see that one non-trivial number is salaries, product trumps people in order to maintain profit.

(To be sure there are a number of people who probably have a skillset that is not particularly relevant to automobility going forward and it would probably be tenuous from a legal standpoint to single them out, which may make casting a larger net better from a corporate point of view.)

But the point is: EVs are (1) costly to develop and (2) not making money for corporations the way that gasoline-powered vehicles are (yet).

So, in order to keep earnings up and costs down, there will be people who will have to find something else to do with their working hours.

The state of EVs is the topic on this edition of “Autoline After Hours.” Joining me are Greg Migliore, editor of Autoblog and the newly launched Autoblog Electric; Chris Paukert, director of Video for Edmunds; and Matt DeLorenzo, long-time auto journalist and author of How To Buy an Affordable Electric Car.

The discussion delves into an array of EV-related topics, from affordability to charging to how long it will be until EVs are the norm and internal combustion engines are the exception.

And as for that last topic, it may be longer than you might think.

You can see the show here.

Bob Boniface on Automotive Design

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By Gary S. Vasilash

Here’s something that you probably don’t know about Bob Boniface, director of Global Buick Design, even if you know Bob Boniface.

He began his career. . .working at a mutual fund in Boston after receiving his undergraduate degree. . .in psychology and economics.

Boniface did go to the College of Creative Studies in Detroit and while there was hired as an intern to work at Chrysler which led to a job offer from then-head of Chrysler Design, Tom Gale.

Buick Wildcat EV concept. If Buicks look like this, then the brand has a bright, electric future. (Image: Buick)

Boniface was to work at Chrysler for 12 years, during which time he worked on a variety of projects including the second-generation Dodge Intrepid, the Dodge Intrepid ESX (a diesel hybrid with wheel motors), the Stow ‘n Go seating for the minivans, the 300C, and the Jeep Liberty.

In 2004 Boniface moved across town to General Motors. The first thing he worked on was the GM Sequel—a fuel cell-powered vehicle. Then the gen-five Camaro.

Boniface says, on this edition of “Autoline After Hours,” that he was, in effect, employee #1 on the Chevrolet Volt.

Then he moved to Cadillac for six years. He worked on XT4, XT5, CTS, CT6 and. . .he says the best part was working on the V-Series, the CTS-V and the ATS-V. (He says one of the engaging parts of the V programs was the level of commitment across all the functions involved: by having everyone working toward making something special, the results is–something special.)

Boniface moved to Buick in 2016 and has worked on vehicles including the Enclave and the Envision.

He points out that a lot of his work involves overseeing the studios in Korea and China. The China market is huge for Buick—roughly four times that of the U.S. market, so that part of the world is important. He notes that a lot of developments in the interior space are occurring in that part of the world, and interiors are part of his portfolio.

But then there’s the Wildcat EV Concept.

Realize that Buick arguably gave rise to the whole notion of the concept vehicle with the 1938 Buick Y-Job. The brand has had a number of vehicles with striking designs since then, such as the Wildcat I and II of the 1950s to the Velite in 2004 to the Avenir in 2016.

Back in 2018 Boniface says that they went to work on developing not so much a new vehicle as a new design language. But that exercise gave rise to the Wildcat EV Concept, a 2+2 coupe that is an expression of the electric future of Buick and that expression includes a new face—although being new, it also includes a nod to the brand’s design paste (e.g., high lamps, body-mounted badge).

Again: it is the language that they created and the vehicles to come will be spelled with those words.

If you have any interest in automotive design over the past 30 years, then this edition of “Autoline After Hours” is must viewing.

Joining the discussion are Greg Migliore of Autoblog and Joe DeMatio of Hagerty Media.

And you can see it here.