Automotive awards are usually pointless, however the might be an attention-grabbing glimpse into the business as an entire. Over the 75+ years that MotorTrend has given out Automobile Of The 12 months awards, there have been quite a lot of doozys. Take fashions just like the Chevy Quotation in 1980, Chevy Malibu in 1997, VW Passat in 2012 for example–stinkers all. 2025 appears to be one other a type of years that can have you ever pondering “what?” However MotorTrend claims to have a technique to the insanity of awarding the 2025 Lincoln Nautilus as its SUV Of The 12 months. Not solely did the Nautilus win, MT says the Nautilus gained hands-down.
Even MotorTrend’s editors are shocked by this flip of occasions, however from the outset they felt the Nautilus had simple winner circle vibes:
The brand new Lincoln Nautilus is MotorTrend’s 2025 SUV of the 12 months. Who amongst us noticed this coming? Wanting via our judges’ notebooks reveals the reply to be not many. However as early as day one in every of our five-day SUVOTY analysis course of, the Nautilus had definite-finalist if not certain-winner vibes swarming round it.
It’s a shocking win, however perhaps that’s as a result of we’ve but to drive it. The Nautilus does look approach higher than the MKX it replaces. The outgoing MKX was the second era of a mannequin that debuted again in 2007 and had been largely unchanged since 2016. It was time for one thing new, recent and apparently award profitable.
MotorTrend exams its Automobile and SUV Of The 12 months contenders on six key areas of standards: design development, engineering excellence, effectivity, security, worth and efficiency of meant perform. With these standards, MotorTrend says over 30 manufacturers had fashions that have been new or up to date sufficient to qualify for the awards.
The Nautilus ran up towards heavyweights like the brand new Toyota Land Cruiser and its Lexus GX cousin, the Hummer EV SUV, each the fuel and EV variations of the brand new Chevy Equinox, the Ford Mustang Mach-e Rally, the Genesis GV80 Coupe, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N and extra. So In a discipline this deep, how precisely did the Nautilus come out on high?
Apparently it’s simply that good. Take the design of the Nautilus’ inside, which MotorTrend employees referred to as beautiful. They even had excessive reward for the CVT:
Lincoln crafted a startlingly luxurious and upscale inside. You’re tempted to be most impressed by the huge 48-inch wraparound display, however the seats’ high quality actually grabs you. They’re midcentury trendy in look, really feel, and luxury. Of particular notice to street warrior varieties: The left and proper thigh cushions can increase and decrease independently, which is a sport changer over lengthy distances. The loopy half? The couchlike rear bench is a fair higher place to be. And keep in mind the Revel sound system? All these audio system are housed behind fancy-looking grilles.
You’d by no means know this Nautilus—the loaded Black Label Hybrid—is a hybrid. The combination between the motors buried within the CVT and the two.0-liter turbocharged inline-four is superb. Sure, a four-cylinder hybrid can certainly make for a superb powertrain in a luxurious car. It’s one that offers the Nautilus greater than 500 miles of vary per tank, too.
It even scored good on worth, although its $52,000+ beginning value isn’t precisely low-cost. It wasn’t all nice after all, how might it’s? MotorTrend says it’s not precisely thrilling to drive, and so they didn’t appear to be satisfied that its pricing on the upper trims was price it, saying “$80,000 for something associated to a Ford Escape—regardless of how brilliantly executed—feels, properly, off.” The Nautilus can be the primary winner to be made in China, in order that’s cool I suppose?
I can’t wait to see who they crown for his or her Truck and Automobile Of The 12 months Awards. If the Nautilus’ win is any indication, these upcoming winners could make us fall out of our chairs.
