While car companies aim to produce vehicles that cater to its consumers’ needs, the industry still places great emphasis on competition. When it comes to the truck world, several sites give their take on which make and model was the best of the year. However, few are more prestigious than MotorTrend’s Truck of the Year award. Despite the Chevy Silverado being one of the best selling trucks in North America, it has not won the Truck of the Year since 2011. Let’s try to figure out why.

The last Chevy Silverado to win

After General Motors had its development budget cut due to the period’s recession, the company chose to prioritize function over form. While the 2011 Chevy Silverado HD wasn’t as stylistically pleasing, its capabilities put it head and shoulders above the competition.

The Chevy Silverado HD had a towing capacity of 21,700 pounds. This meant that the truck could tow three Silverado HDs. The truck’s payload capacity was also an impressive half-ton. All this resulted in the truck winning MotorTrend’s 2011 Truck of the year.

The Chevy Silverado award drought continues

Despite GM’s best efforts, the Chevy Silverado missed out on this year’s Truck of the Year award. The award went to the Ram 1500 thanks to the truck’s improved versatility, capability, convenience, comfort, and value.

This means Chevy Silverado’s Truck of the Year drought has now lasted eight consecutive years. Since 2011, there have been three other different winners, which include the Ford F-150, Ford Super Duty, and the Chevrolet Colorado.

Though the Chevy Silverado was one of the finalists this year, the Ram 1500 was found to be a better truck. While the Silverado featured an improved exterior look, its ride quality and laggy throttle response lowered its final rating.

However, the truck’s first return to the finalist’s list since 2014 might be a silver lining. Thanks to its improved interior and the quiet and smooth ride it delivered, the 2014 Chevy Silverado was better than the previous model year. However, judges felt that it did not make enough improvement to beat out the 2014 Ram 1500, which won the award for a second consecutive time that year.

While MotorTrend has not been convinced enough by the Chevy Silverado to award it the Truck of the Year award, other sites have rated the truck highly over the years. U.S. News, for instance, ranks the truck as one of the best in class with a 7.9 out of 10 rating being the lowest the Silverado has received since 2013.

Another win for Ram

The Ford F-Series has been the best-selling truck in America with the Chevy Silverado second, and Ram coming in third. Last year, Ford’s F-Series sold 909,330 trucks, further establishing its dominance in the truck category. Chevy Silverado and RAM sold 585,581 and 536,980 trucks based on data released by the car companies.

However, this all changed when Ram trucks outsold the Chevy Silverado this year. While 141,436 Chevy Silverado trucks were sold, Ram experienced a 56% jump, selling 170,454 trucks between April and June.

Although the truck sales competition is being dominated by the F-Series and Chevy Silverado trucks, it seems as if there is a third competitor in the race. While Ram has come out strong this year, GM does not seem worried about the slip.

Jim Cain, a Chevy brand spokesperson, said that once Chevrolet launches the light-duty Silverado regular cab version, GM will have a model with a better appeal to buyers. Whatever happens, it’s clear to see that the truck segment will continue to be a strong one with more and more consumers demanding capable vehicles.