How and why the Ram 1500 and Ford F-150 have nabbed so many awards

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Truck companies measure success in sales, but also make a big deal about the awards they win. Advertising your truck beat everybody else can translate directly to sales numbers, and right now, that’s what two are doing.

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Ram is touting its trophy as the 2021 Motor Trend Truck of the Year, while Ford is hyping its hardware as the 2021 North American Truck of the Year. Along with those “biggies,” they’ve both picked up other awards as well.

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How and why the Ram 1500 and Ford F-150 have nabbed so many awards Back to video

So how did each win what? In some cases, it depends on the award itself. Note we’re not saying Ram and Ford didn’t deserve their wins — but here’s some insight into exactly what was being judged. And stay tuned, we plan on getting one of each for head-to-head in our own competition in the near future.

Motor Trend Truck of the Year — Ram TRX

Ram’s consumer sites advertise just “Ram” as the award winner, but the coveted award went specifically to the Ram TRX . A truck must be “new or significantly improved” to be considered for the award, with the winner announced in December 2020, and the TRX was the only Ram 1500 model that was all-new . The Ford Super Duty was in the running, but not the F-150. We suspect testing was done early enough that the Ford wasn’t available. Partly due to pandemic restrictions, the F-150 didn’t go into consumer production until October 2020.

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As an off-road supertruck, the 702-horsepower Ram TRX stands alone for now. An all-new Raptor is coming later in 2021, so it obviously couldn’t be part of Motor Trend’s competition. Ram also won the award in 2020 for its Heavy Duty; and in 2019 for its all-new 1500, after Ford had taken the title in 2018 for the F-150, and in 2017 for its Super Duty.

North American Truck of the Year — Ford F-150

This is judged by 50 auto writers in Canada and the U.S. , and contenders must be “new or substantially changed.” Jurors must have driven a vehicle to vote on it, and votes were due in December 2020.

As with Motor Trend, the only Ram that qualified was the TRX. It was one of three finalists, along with the Jeep Gladiator Mojave, and the F-150. The jurors vote on “segment leadership, innovation, design, safety, handling, driver satisfaction and value for the dollar,” according to the North American Car of the Year website. Our guess is that jurors leaned more toward the F-150’s overall consumer appeal, as opposed to the TRX’s specialized audience.

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Four Wheeler’s Pickup Truck of the Year — Ram TRX

This off-road magazine has been picking an annual winner for 32 years. Its writers meet for three days of testing, using vehicles provided by the auto manufacturers. The trucks must be new or significantly improved, and testing covers track driving, off-roading, rock crawling, night driving, and highway miles. Given the magazine’s focus, we think the TRX would have beaten the F-150 even if the latter had been in the running — but again, likely due to availability, it wasn’t. The TRX triumphed over the GMC Canyon AT4, Jeep Gladiator Rubicon EcoDiesel, Jeep Gladiator Mojave, and Nissan Titan Pro4X.

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Green Truck of the Year — Ford F-150

Presented annually since 2005 by the Green Car Journal , this award – which also recognizes the “greenest” cars and SUVs – went to the F-150 for its full hybrid powertrain. Other finalists were the Ram 1500, Chevrolet Colorado, Chevrolet Silverado, and Jeep Gladiator EcoDiesel, all of which “offer diverse powertrain choices, from gasoline and diesel internal-combustion to variations of mild- and full-hybrid power.” The publication doesn’t mention if judges must have driven a vehicle to vote on it.

Truck of Texas — Ram 1500

Texans love their trucks, and the Texas Auto Writers Association hosts an annual “Texas Truck Rodeo” where its members drive vehicles and vote on trucks, SUVs, and commercial vehicles. All-new is not a requirement, and for 2021, the Ram 1500 took Full-Size Pickup Truck, Luxury Pickup Truck, Off-Road Pickup Truck, and overall Truck of Texas. The Ram 2500 and TRX also took trophies.

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The vehicles are supplied to the Rodeo by the manufacturers, and Land Rover, Hyundai, Toyota, and Nissan also took awards. However, TAWA noted that “Ford and GM did not participate.”

Car and Driver 10Best — Ram 1500

The Ram 1500 was the only truck to make Car and Driver’s “10Best” list, covering the full range from base V6 to TRX. The only other truck on the list of contenders was the Jeep Gladiator. Given that the award was announced in November 2020, we suspect getting an F-150 to test might have been an issue.

IIHS Top Safety Pick — Ram 1500

The 2021 Ram 1500 Crew Cab won a Top Safety Pick award from the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) . In addition to meeting the top “good” ratings in six crashworthiness tests, the addition of pedestrian detection to its optional front crash prevention system nailed the title. It just missed the highest Top Safety Pick+ because a vehicle’s headlights must be “good” across all trims, which the Ram’s did not. Kudos to Ram, as no other full-size pickup has the Top Safety Pick designation for 2021 – but the F-150 is so recent that IIHS hasn’t fully tested it yet.

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AJAC 2021 Full-Size Pickup — Ram 1500

The Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC) named the Ram 1500 tops in its category in its annual award, defeating the Chevrolet Silverado and Nissan Titan. All models are considered, all-new or not, but jurors must get behind the wheel to judge, and AJAC’s annual “Testfest” was cancelled due to COVID-19. Instead, jurors voted on vehicles they’d driven on launches or as review vehicles. A vehicle had to have a minimum number of test-drives in order to qualify, and between truck availability and pandemic restrictions, the F-150 didn’t rack up enough to be in the running.