Rivian R2 Is TopGear.com's 2027 SUV of the Year; Genesis Magma GT Wins for Design
The R2 took the SUV title in its first year on sale, while Genesis' mid-engine Magma GT Concept was the only concept to win a category. Full list below.
The Rivian R2 is TopGear.com's 2027 SUV of the Year, and the Genesis Magma GT Concept is its Design of the Year. Both automakers announced the awards on November 6, a little over a week after Top Gear posted the full list of winners on October 28.
For Rivian, the timing is useful. The R2 only reached public customers in June, and it has already become the company's best-selling vehicle, outselling the R1 lineup and the commercial van in the third quarter.
What Top Gear said about the R2
According to Rivian's announcement, the R2 beat a field of gas, hybrid, and electric SUVs for the title. Top Gear's own writeup takes the same line: of all the 2026 takes on the SUV formula, it picked the R2 as the most refreshing, and it noted that buyers don't have to worry about Rivian's survival the way they might with other EV startups.
Deputy Editor Ollie Kew singled out the physical steering-wheel controls, which cut down on touchscreen use, and the cabin materials, including the hessian floor mats and open-pore wood. On the road, he called the R2 "effortlessly fast and well calibrated."
That verdict lands on a single version of the car. Rivian currently sells only the $57,990 R2 Performance with Launch Package, the same base price as the Tesla Model Y Performance in our R2 vs. Model Y comparison. Cheaper trims are still to come, and the R2 is also the one Rivian that gets no discount: the company's November financing offers cover the R1S and R1T only.
A design award for a car you can't buy
Genesis' win is the odd one out on the list. The Magma GT Concept is a mid-engine sports car the brand first showed last November, and it's now the only concept among the 11 winners.
In the Genesis release, Tedros Mengiste, chief operating officer of Genesis Motor North America, tied the concept to the brand's long-term performance plans and its racing program. Top Gear Associate Editor Tom Ford praised the restraint of the design, calling it "about what you leave out, rather than what you add in."
It is the concept's second design trophy in two months, after a Silver at the 2026 IDEA Awards in September. Genesis has previously linked the car to its GT3 racing ambitions, but it still hasn't given the Magma GT a production date, and the new release doesn't change that.
The rest of the list
Top Gear's second annual U.S. awards gave the overall Car of the Year title to the $39,995 Subaru Trailseeker EV, while the Chevrolet Corvette collected three categories: Sports Car (Grand Sport), Supercar (ZR1X), and Engine (the LS6 V8). The Ram 1500 TRX SRT took Truck of the Year, the Tesla Semi won the Tech award, BMW was named Manufacturer of the Year, the Gunther Werks Turbo won the restomod category, and Stellantis' Tim Kuniskis was Person of the Year.
Top Gear's page lists winners only, with no finalists or runners-up, so there is no way to tell which SUVs the R2 beat.
