AJAC announces Canada’s 8 Best Vehicles for 2021

The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) announced today the vehicles its members selected as the best in Canada for 2021 in each of 8 categories spanning segments that include cars, utility vehicles, and pick-up trucks.

With this announcement, 6 vehicle manufacturers move one step closer to winning the ultimate accolades of 2021 Canadian Car of the Year and 2021 Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year. 

Kia and Genesis have both earned a pair of category wins this year with the Kia Telluride marking a repeat win in its category. Mazda, Subaru, Nissan, and Ram each take home best-in-class trophies to add to their cabinets, with the Mazda3 also receiving a second win in a row.

More than 250 vehicles were eligible for evaluation and voting in this year’s awards, including all on-sale vehicles: those newly designed, recently refreshed, and carried over from the previous year were all eligible upon receiving a minimum number of ballots submitted by AJAC journalists. Voting data was collected from expert jurors based from Vancouver to Halifax, who tested each vehicle on the same roads and in the same conditions faced by Canadian drivers from coast to coast every day. It’s also quite interesting to check out VehicleFreak’s 25 greatest cars of all time.

“Despite the many challenges presented throughout 2020, AJAC journalists rallied to submit ballots based on real-world test drives and produce this list of winners presented on Zone Auto today in collaboration with the Montreal International Auto Show,” said Stephanie Wallcraft, AJAC president. “AJAC counts dozens of Canada’s foremost automotive critics among its membership. In producing these results, our journalist members demonstrated fierce dedication to their craft, informing Canadian drivers of the vehicles worthy of their purchase consideration in 2021.”

All 8 of these vehicles now qualify to be named 2021 Canadian Car of the Year or 2021 Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year. These awards will be presented in March; details of that announcement will follow at a later date.

Here are the 2021 Canadian cars of the year and 2021 Canadian utility car of the year:

Best Mid-Size Car in Canada for 2021
Mazda3 (repeat winner)

Best Large Car in Canada for 2021
Kia K5

Best Mid-Size Premium Car in Canada for 2021
Genesis G80

Best Small Utility Vehicle in Canada for 2021
Subaru Crosstrek

Best Mid-Size Utility Vehicle in Canada for 2021
Nissan Rogue

Best Large Utility Vehicle in Canada for 2021
Kia Telluride (repeat winner)

Best Mid-Size Premium Utility Vehicle in Canada for 2021
Genesis GV80

Best Full-Size Pick-up Truck in Canada for 2021
Ram 1500

About the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC)
The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) is an association of professional journalists, writers, photographers, and corporate members whose focus is the automobile and the Canadian automotive industry. Collectively, our primary objectives are to promote, encourage, support, and facilitate professionalism in Canadian automotive journalism and to ensure factual and ethical reporting about the automobile and automotive issues to Canadian consumers. This is achieved through the work of our members and AJAC’s annual vehicle testing and evaluation events, the Canadian Car of the Year and Canadian Utility Vehicle of the Year Awards (CCOTY and CUVOTY), Innovation Awards, and EcoRun.

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