Here are your winners of the TopGear.com US Car Awards 2026!

Welcome to the inaugural TopGear.com US Car Awards. Great to have you, please take a seat. That’s right, Top Gear is going supersized and Stateside for the first time, to name the best new cars on sale in America. The criteria is thus: for a new car to be eligible it needs to have been launched in the last 12 months, and sold in the US market. Simple.

Why a US-focused awards then when we already have the TopGear.com Awards? Apart from topping up our air miles? Well, as our web, social, YouTube and Apple News audience continues to grow exponentially, American readers and viewers are an increasingly large slice of that pie, so we wanted to create something specifically for them. Plus, the number of US-exclusive models, and the unique requirements that makes US buyers tick, mean the winners that popped out from our rigorous testing bear little resemblance to our existing awards.

To keep things clear and logical we honed it down to just six categories: Car, Truck, SUV, Supercar and Manufacturer of the Year, plus the TG Tech Award. For Car, Truck and SUV we consulted with our road test database, US correspondent Alex Kalogianni and the whole editorial team to form a shortlist. We then gathered everything on those shortlists for extensive testing on road and track in Detroit back in October… and picked our winners.

For Supercar of the Year we arranged the bout we’ve all been waiting for – Mustang GTD vs Corvette ZR1 at the Ten Tenths Motor Club in Charlotte with Jethro Bovingdon adjudicating, and after two days of intense battle and shredding tyres we had our victor. For Manufacturer of the Year we asked Pat Devereux, LA-based TG vet who’s been right there for every crest and trough of the US car industry for the past 20 years, to call it. For the TG Tech Award we worked with TG contributor and YouTube Tech boss Marques Brownlee to pick and then get hands on with the winning piece of technology.

Fuller features will follow, but for now here’s your quickfire winner’s list… on with the show!

Car of the Year: Dodge Charger Sixpack

Shortlist:

Kia K4
Tesla Model 3 Performance
Hyundai Elantra N
Dodge Charger Sixpack (winner)

The Dodge Charger Sixpack is an exciting return to form after the debut of the Charger Daytona, the EV muscle car that is something of a failed experiment despite being quite good. Whatever the case, it wasn’t what Dodge fans were looking for, and the Sixpack brings the Charger up to speed. A gas engine is back - there’s now a 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six under the hood, providing 550hp and 531lb ft of torque. This drives all four wheels as standard but full power can be sent to the rears if AWD isn’t muscle-y enough for you.

It benefits from a slick, streamlined design, along with a stylish and functional interior to match. Different drive modes give it the capability to handle various surface conditions or can be optimised for sporty driving. This and a functioning back seat make it a versatile daily driver instead of a weekend-only, tail-happy plaything. It even has room in the trunk for a full set of wheels, in case you might want to take a spare set to the track.

Alex Kalogianni

SUV of the Year: Cadillac Lyriq-V

Shortlist:

Ford Expedition Tremor
Hyundai Ioniq 9 
Tesla Model Y 
Cadillac-Lyriq V (winner)
Toyota 4Runner Trailhunter

The standard Lyriq was actually unveiled in production form all the way back in April 2021, and thanks to its ample space and smooth ride, it’s now the posh airport taxi of choice in the US, apparently. The recently released V aims to shake off that image with 615hp and 650lb ft of torque.

It’ll do 0-60mph in 3.3 seconds if you use its excellently named Velocity Max launch mode and will even run on to a top speed of 130mph. It never feels sickeningly fast (probably because it weighs nearly 6,000lbs/2,700kg), but on paper it’s the quickest Cadillac ever and there’s plenty of grunt to play with. Plus, with adaptive dampers and big Brembo brakes, it doesn’t all fall apart when you reach a corner. This thing offers a surprising amount of feedback through the steering wheel and while the ride is on the firmer side (no thanks to the V’s standard 22in wheels) it compensates by staying flat through bends.

It's the Caddy that wins this test thanks to its genuine all-round ability. It’s fun to drive, comfortable to cruise in, supremely practical and still easy to operate. It's a pleasant surprise for us Brits, and with Cadillac still insisting that a European/UK launch is on the cards we’re pretty sure the Germans will be taking note. Could ruffle a few feathers, this.

Greg Potts

Truck of the Year: Rivian R1T Quad Motor

Shortlist: 

Ford Maverick Lobo
GMC Sierra EV
Rivian R1T Quad Motor (winner)

The Rivian R1T Quad Motor is simply too impressive to ignore. Unlike the typical upgrades that come with a vehicle’s new generation, second-gen Rivian R1s are essentially do-overs. Sure, 1,025hp and 1,198lb ft of torque is impressive, but Rivian has also made it more manoeuvrable in the wild, and in a way that’s in line with Rivian’s wilderness spirit. Hello, kick-turn.

It can spin around, though only on loose ground and at a very fixed speed, like at a base camp or a tightly-wound trail. The ‘kick’ part is where it gets interesting. The same system can throw the R1’s back around for very controlled, deliberate rounding of narrow corners. It’s no drift mode, but it gets the job done.

In the end, though, it wasn’t kick-turn nor the amazing drive modes that made us feel like superstars, it was the opportunity to set the car up for better or for worse thanks to the Rivian RAD Tuner. The same tools that allowed pro drivers to dial in the drive modes are now included with the R1 Quad. It’s unprecedented, manufacturer-direct access that allows drivers to change a multitude of settings to their liking. With the RAD Tuner, drivers are free to make their Rivian a regen-heavy pig or a wild, rear-drive rodeo. The point is you’re allowed to choose and it’s ridiculously easy to use.

Alex Kalogianni

Supercar of the Year: Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

Shortlist: 

Ford Mustang GTD
Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 (winner)

The Corvette ZR1 is big by the standards of, say, a Ferrari 296 GTB or McLaren 750S, but it’s low and lean next to the comically pumped-up Mustang. With the carbon fibre aero package and ZTK Performance Track Package, it looks nearly as tough as the Ford, though. There are dive planes, a big rear wing, super sticky Cup 2R tyres that appear to have no tread at all, carbon ceramic brakes and this car even has optional carbon fibre rims.

The ZR1 has less downforce – 545kg but at way up over 200mph – but counters with a kerbweight of around 1,800kg. Oh, and did I mention that its 5.5-litre twin-turbocharged V8 has 1064bhp and 828lb ft? In terms of power-to-weight the ZR1 is king. Bang-per-buck, too. Even with every carbon fibre box ticked this ZR1 is $237,735. The hand-built GTD starts at $325,000, but you’ll need to add $46,000 for the Performance Package and pretty soon you’ll arrive at a Mustang that costs $400,000.

The Mustang GTD and Corvette ZR1 are both pretty bloody fantastic. For pure drama it’s hard to beat the Ford. Yet the American dream centres around abundance for the many, not the few. And the ZR1’s price (from $182,395 – we’ve driven Ferraris with a higher option spend), its power, performance and its sharp, intuitive chassis response is impossible to ignore. Plus, it’s just plain faster.

Jethro Bovingdon

Manufacturer of the Year – Cadillac

The Standard of the World. Be Iconic. Dare Greatly… Cadillac has had many different brand catchlines over the past couple of decades as it searched for its new identity. But it’s only quite recently that the brand has started to live up to the billing. In a seemingly continuous blur of activity, announcements and achievements it's gone from being bland to once again one of the most bold and ambitious names on the planet.

In the space of a few years, it has launched an entire range of new EVs including the Celestiq - a Rolls-Royce competitor (what makes this doubly impressive is that Cadillac did all this while still offering its best-ever regular Escalade and superb petrol-powered CT4 and CT5 Blackwing models), secured pole at Le Mans and launched a full factory Formula 1 team. Cadillac’s catchline today is: ‘Cadillac. Never Stop Arriving.’ But, based on all the above, we suggest something a bit more succinct for 2025. How about just: Wow.

Pat Devereux

TG Tech Award: Porsche Wireless Charging

This award celebrates a leap forward in automotive tech, something that has a tangible and positive effect on your user experience. And this one’s for anyone who’s fumbled about trying to roll up a wet charging cord or parked just a fraction too far away from the plug… it goes to Porsche’s new wireless charging system, available as an option on the new Cayenne Electric.

The process couldn’t be simpler - as you pull into your garage, or the car gets close enough to the floor pad, an ultra-wideband signal triggers the camera and a set of special graphics pop up on the screen, helping you to slowly pull up to it and line everything up. A set of blue lines on the outside show where your tyres are pointing, and the green lines show the outer edges of the charging coil.

At the point you’re about to drive over the top of it, it switches to an overhead view and like a satisfyingly lo-fi video game, you basically put the ball in the basket and that’s it. You line it up, stop the car, switch to park and the charging starts… ramping all the way up to 11kW, which is actually kind of nuts considering there's still quite a gap between the car and the puck on the ground.

It’s pricey (around $8,000), but then so is the only car it currently works with. Money aside, it’s the ideal luxury EV setup and you can bet Porche’s rivals will follow suit soon.

Marques Brownlee