THIS YEAR’S NEWSWEEK AUTOS Awards winners reflect an industry in a period of recovery and also of change.
The supply chain crises of the past few years—particularly in semiconductor chips—have eased. Automakers are seeing better sales while they roll out models that were in the pipeline well before the pandemic. The transition to electric powertrains continues. Vehicles of all kinds are becoming highly technologically advanced. Yet buyers still want what they’ve always wanted: cars and light trucks that are safe, reliable, stylish and affordable.
This year’s winners include some of the greenest and most luxurious vehicles made today. They pump up the volume on performance and many deliver more bang for buck than ever before, including the smallest models on our list. They come from brands foreign and domestic, new and old. Our biggest winner overall was Kia with six awards. Honda and GMC had four awards apiece, followed by Land Rover, Rolls-Royce and Mercedes, each with three.
Newsweek’s Autos editors rated cars two ways: test driving them and comparing standard and available features and specifications to other vehicles in the same category. The team drove about 200 vehicles and rated them in seven categories: performance, handling and braking, technology, cargo area, seating, interior appointments and pricing. For our Editors’ Picks, our standards were a bit more subjective—these are simply vehicles that particularly knocked us out. This year, we’ve also singled out the best new technology features. All these vehicles are on sale now in the U.S.—for some that means the 2023 model year, for others 2024.
Fixing the Mix
AFTER YEARS OF PROMOTING LARGE trucks and SUVs, carmakers are now bringing smaller entry-level models to market.
“There is significant pent-up demand at the lower end of the market, partly due to fallout from the pandemic and supply chain shortages,” Paul Waatti, manager of industry analysis at AutoPacific, an automotive market research firm, tells Newsweek.
As those forces—not to mention inflation—drove up prices of both new and used cars, entry-level buyers had trouble finding anything they could afford. According to Tony Salerno, managing director and practice leader for automotive advisory and analytics at consumer data firm J.D. Power, carmakers now “are desperate to shift from the ‘build the most expensive mix possible’ to ‘build a balanced mix of more affordable, profitable products.’
“In October 2022,” he says, “less than 17 percent of all vehicles sold were priced under $30,000. That mix is now over 20 percent.”
Budget-conscious buyers now have plenty of choices. Waatti says, “The 2024 Chevrolet Trax [a editors’ pick]—arguably the best combination of value, style and versatility on the market—and slightly more upscale Buick Envista have
