#VOTY2020 – We Have a Winner…
The pandemic changed our routines, our timelines, and our work lives. Our homes became more than sanctuaries. Our awareness of our health has increased. Our politics became more stratified.
The year 2020 has made us do things differently.
The pandemic changed our routines, our timelines, and our work lives. Our homes became more than sanctuaries. Our awareness of our health has increased. Our politics became more stratified.
These factors changed the way the Victory & Reseda Vehicle of The Year Award had to be executed. Our processes had not been altered, since we do everything virtually – including the balloting. Yet, to accommodate your interest in the award, the timeline had to be altered. This is why #VOTY had to be done now and not in November as in most years.
Even through the insanity of the year, #VOTY was executed. It started with 46 nominees. The evaluations have been scored, the social media traffic analyzed, and the media panel chimed in. That list was whittled down to five finalists.
Then, it was your turn. You voted yesterday in a peaceful, electronic manner.
With all the votes tabulated and verified, the 2020 Victory & Reseda Vehicle of The Year Award – #VOTY2020 – goes to…
The Toyota GR Supra
Before the world began to shut down in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, this was one of the big headlines of the model year. A car with an iconic name that was reconstituted into a new type of sports coupe for today.
The collaboration with BMW yielded a two-seat, turbocharged six-cylinder driver’s car. The design was purely Toyota – with some nods to the last Supra. Inside and underneath the hood was the result of the collaboration between two titans of the industry. It was what enthusiasts craved in a sports coupe of its kind.
Adding the GR name – for Gazoo Racing – gave the Supra a new mission. It was no longer the big 2+2 bruiser that took moviegoers on a wild ride. It was a lightweight track charmer with an eye on the canyons.
This win was not just about the GR Supra this website reviewed. It is also about the future. For 2021, Toyota will offer a turbocharged four-cylinder version and an uprated turbocharged six-cylinder. These developments also helped the GR Supra’s cause towards winning #VOTY2020.
Victory & Reseda would like to thank Toyota Motor North America on this award. This may be the company’s third #VOTY – the first two awarded went the Lexus brand – but it is the Toyota brand’s first one.
Special thanks to Casper Karoff and his Facebook Group, Casper’s Daily Polls, for being an additional polling place for #VOTY2020. Thanks to all of the voters across all polling places online for delivering another #VOTY.
All photos by Randy Stern