Ford F-150 Lightning Wins 2023 North American Truck of the Year

Lightning in a Bottle

The Ford F-150 Lightning is charging into the new year as the North American Truck of the Year. This is the latest award in the electric truck’s trophy case and marks the third straight NACTOY Truck of the Year award for Ford. It’s also the fifth NACTOY award for Ford in the past three years. 

“Earning North America’s Truck of the Year is huge for the team that has been working so hard to build and deliver as many Lightnings as possible, as quickly as possible,” said Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO. “We’re moving fast to further ramp production to a 150,000 run rate this fall and pushing to improve every aspect of this truck. We’ve started delivering Lightnings from the factory with a fantastic new user interface update to improve the driver experience that we’ll also roll out to all of our Lightning owners over-the-air.” 

The F-150 Lightning is the best-selling electric truck in the U.S. since its launch in May 2022, with sales totaling 15,617, helping Ford to become the No. 2 EV automaker in the U.S. in 2022.

“When America’s best-selling vehicle goes electric you know the transition has momentum,” said Karl Brauer, NACTOY juror and freelance journalist for Forbes. “Ford’s effort to create an all-electric F-150 is remarkable because it combines the standard truck’s dimensions, which means it retains massive aftermarket support, with substantial upgrades to areas like storage and mobile power support. It’s really the best of all worlds, giving the F-150 Lightning a wide range of applications for both traditional and new-to-the-segment truck customers.”

To win the North American Truck of the Year, vehicles must be new or substantially changed for the year. The jury of 50 professional automotive journalists from across North America choose a winner based on innovation, design, safety, performance, technology, user experience, driver satisfaction and value.

North American Truck of the Year is the latest award in the F-150 Lightning trophy case. Others include, Motor Trend Truck of the Year, The Car Connection Best Car to Buy, Edmunds Top Rated, Detroit Free Press Truck of the Year, Green Car Reports Best Car to Buy, TIME Top 200 Invention of 2022, 2023 Kelley Blue Book Best Buy Award, 2022 Altair Enlighten Award, Sobre Ruedas 2022 Awards, Wards 10 Best & Engines & Propulsion Systems, Internet Brands Best Car to Buy, Victory & Reseda Vehicle of the Year, TopGear.com 2022 American Car of the Year, Autoblog Technology of the Year 2022, Motor1 Star Awards, CarBuzz Save the Planet award and multiple Sabre awards.