The Volkswagen ID Buzz had nice vibes, however a restricted vary and excessive costs led to weak demand, and finally Volkswagen’s resolution to cease promoting it in the USA. But it surely did nonetheless win the 2025 North American Automotive, Utility and Truck of the 12 months Award for Utility Automobile of the 12 months, so not less than there’s that. Nicely, aside from the half the place NACTOY’s president lately instructed Autoblog that he regrets not giving that award to a special automobile. Oops.
At this yr’s 2026 NACTOY awards, Autoblog requested NACTOY President Jeff Gilbert if there have been any awards he wished may very well be taken again or occasions he would have voted otherwise. In accordance with Autoblog, “Gilbert did not ponder lengthy” earlier than answering, “You do not have to return twenty years, you solely have to return one yr.” Contemplating NACTOY named the Honda Civic Hybrid its Automotive of the 12 months and the Ford Ranger its Truck of the 12 months for 2025, that remark alone would not essentially implicate the ID Buzz, however he then known as the Volkswagen out by title:
Gilbert defined: “In case you have a look at North American Utility of the 12 months [for 2025], it was the VW ID Buzz, which was a enjoyable automobile to drive, however the mere indisputable fact that, okay, Volkswagen has pulled that from the market this yr… I believe if jurors knew what the gross sales output was gonna be for the automobile, perhaps they’d have determined otherwise. That was an especially shut vote; solely a few factors separated the ID Buzz from the Hyundai Santa Fe, and y’know, in hindsight, if that vote was taken right this moment, I do not know if it could have come out the identical means. However hindsight is 20/20, you’re taking your finest shot.” The ID Buzz suffered from defects that earned it final place within the 2025 J.D. Energy Dependability Research, so poor gross sales aren’t the one blot on its American ledger.
ID Buzz out
Whether or not you’d think about a NACTOY award when purchasing for a brand new automobile or not, this does function a fantastic reminder that each one awards have their limitations. Regardless of how nice a brand new automobile is to drive, it takes time to learn the way dependable it really is, and there is all the time the chance that it may very well be canceled the subsequent yr. It is also completely potential for a automobile to be higher than that yr’s competitors, whereas nonetheless not being the perfect within the phase, just because the superior selection wasn’t eligible for the competitors that yr. And that is earlier than you get to vehicles generally being extraordinarily troublesome or unimaginable to acquire.
As nice as it could be to repair the issues with automobile awards, comparability checks, and evaluations normally, virtually talking, I additionally do not actually know the way you’d really do this — principally as a result of most ideas require much more money and time than is ever out there. Plus, the extra producer assist you get, the extra affect they will have over the outcomes. Heck, Client Reviews even goes so far as to purchase the overwhelming majority of the automobiles it checks and surveys a whole lot of 1000’s of homeowners yearly to assemble as a lot reliability information as it could actually, and but, folks nonetheless like to complain that they are doing it flawed.
That is additionally one of many causes I am a giant fan of Tyre Evaluations. The crew over there evaluations tires, not vehicles, however in addition they acknowledge that totally different drivers have totally different priorities and assist you to regulate the weighting of every class to suit your explicit scenario. For instance, if it rains so much the place you reside, you may give extra weight to the moist efficiency outcomes, which can result in shopping for a special tire than the one which gained the most recent comparability check. Having one thing like that for vehicles can be nice, however, after all, good luck discovering the cash to make that occur.