Ford Motor Company may not be selling electric vehicles at the pace it once anticipated, nor generating profit from those models just yet, but the automaker continues to earn widespread praise for the quality of its EV lineup. That includes the Ford F-150 Lightning, which previously earned 2023 North American Truck of the Year honors and a 2025 Kelley Blue Book Best Buy Award as the Best Electric Truck for the third consecutive year. Now, The Blue Oval can add another major accolade to that list.

U.S. News & World Report has named Ford the Best Electric Vehicle Brand of 2026 in the mainstream segment. In the luxury category, Lucid took top honors as Best Luxury Electric Vehicle Brand. These two EV-focused brand awards are new for 2026 and were introduced to recognize automakers that excel in electric vehicle performance, safety, interior quality, and technology.

“The 2026 Best Vehicle Brand awards have been expanded to reflect the rapidly evolving automotive landscape, most notably the growing importance of electric vehicles,” said John Vincent, senior automotive correspondent at U.S. News. “This expansion acknowledges the historic number of new EVs and premium electric offerings hitting the market, which are rapidly transforming consumer choice and creating new standards of brand excellence.”

To determine the winners, U.S. News evaluated the overall scores of each automaker’s vehicles across its Best Cars rankings. Those scores are based on a wide range of criteria, including reliability data, safety ratings, and consensus opinions from the automotive media. Brands with the highest average scores across these categories were selected as winners.

While Ford continues to adjust its electrification strategy in response to market conditions, this latest recognition reinforces the strength of its current EV lineup and the automaker’s ability to deliver compelling electric vehicles in the mainstream segment.