Our Hottest Car, Truck, and SUV Photos of 2021!

Our staff photographers go to all lengths and travel far and wide to capture the sensational images that you see accompanying so many of MotorTrend's print and digital stories, not to mention those published by our sister brands Four Wheeler and HOT ROD . Without their hard work, half the story would be missing. Here we present our favorite images that have passed through their camera lenses this year, covering topics as varied as remote-control Ford Broncos, HOT ROD Drag Week, MotorTrend 's Of The Year competitions, the first-ever transcontinental off-road passage by an EV, supercars, and much, much more. Keep reading to see which images our photographers selected as their favorites this year, as well as some information about each one.

The MotorTrendlong-term Ram TRX acted as a support vehicle during our Trans-America Trail trip that we accomplished in the Rivian R1T, the first-ever off-road electric crossing of the United States. The TRX was the widest vehicle ever to tackle Black Bear Pass, at 88.0 inches. In some sections, there were less than a few inches to spare, and here you can see the TRX utilizing all of its articulation. I grabbed this photo as we were executing multipoint turns to traverse the hairpins. —Brandon Lim

After a nerve-wracking moment where the Ford Bronco and senior editor Greg Fink got lost with no cell service in the Mojave Desert, photographer Povi Pullinen captured two of the most iconic off-roaders in their natural habitat. Although these two particular examples' specs don't exactly align (plug-in hybrid Jeep vs. fully internal combustion Bronco), this duo will continue to be compared in many different settings and multiple configurations.

I fell in love with Porsche's Frozen Berry paint on the rear-wheel-drive Taycan we tested . I wanted to shoot it in an urban setting, and the pink paint and curvy exterior stood out against the drab colors of the backdrop. —BL

In the process of executing the review I wrote, we shot this at an oil-drilling facility somewhere in the desert. It looked semi-abandoned, so we pulled right in amid all the equipment and didn't hear anything. So Brandon took a chance and started climbing up onto some of the catwalks. That's where he was when the security guy finally showed up—and when he did, he was extraordinarily nice about kicking us out. By that time Brandon had a memory card full of epic shots. We thought the Ferrari as a conversation piece might be our get-out-of-jail-free card, but it didn't seem to spark any more interest from the guy than if it were a Toyota. Needless to say, next time we end up somewhere we shouldn't be, I'm hoping that guy is on the security staff. —Aaron Gold

The first time I saw Daniel Song's modified widebody Toyota Supra , it reminded me of a car you'd drive in a video game. So, during a car-to-car photography session, I was able to shoot a hard rear angle shot of the Supra in motion to simulate the third-person angle you might experience in a game such as Forza. —Renz Dimaandal

Here's the Lucid Air, MotorTrend's 2022 Car of the Year , as photographed near the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset for the magazine cover. The car was an early build and so we had to have someone from Lucid alongside us during the shoot. The problem was that it was a huge secret that Lucid had won the Golden Calipers—even to Lucid at that point—so we had to tell a little white lie to the chaperone: that we took photos of all of our COTY finalists with the trophy. I'm sure the pride he felt upon learning the truth now outweighs our skullduggery. —RD

Rain or shine, HOT RODPower Tour 2021 was not going to be stopped. Thankfully, our cameras are weather-sealed, because I was thoroughly soaked while photographing one of the event participants driving toward downtown Indianapolis in a heavy rain. —RD

We drove this beautiful 1978 Accord from Honda's official-unofficial museum for another story I did. Since the first-gen Accord was so pivotal to Honda's rise in this country, we thought the company's U.S. HQ would be a good photo location. It turned out—in a complete coincidence, as we did not plan this at all—the odometer turned 50,000 miles right in front of Honda's main building. In fact, had I turned right instead of left for the drive-by shots, it would have turned 50,000 literally right at American Honda's front door. —AG

Honda had this quarter-million-mile CR-V in its museum , and because of the car's already high mileage, its handlers didn't want it to stray too far from home. So we shot it right inside the building. We couldn't move the other cars and there was only so much space. I thought it was going to be a dull shot—plain silver SUV in a not particularly well-lit museum—and what Darren accomplished was one of my personal favorite photographs of the year. He positioned the car just so, framing it with just the right group of other Hondas, and making a photo that communicates the significance of the CR-V in Honda's history. And by the way, the little SUV ran just fine. —AG

The McLaren Elva is one of the most outrageous vehicles I have ever shot. I mean, just look at it: no roof, no windshield, nothing between you and the elements! It was early in the year when Jonny Lieberman and I headed into the mountains in this open-air beauty. It was cold—really cold—and I think Jonny was more than happy to keep warm underneath his helmet. It was actually a win-win situation, because it meant that I didn't have to look at his bearded mug all day!— William Walker

I spent a total of 18 days covering our epic trip on the Trans-America Trail in the revolutionary Rivian R1T , during which my one goal was to get a good jump shot. It finally happed a few days from the end of the journey, when MotorTrend 's own Conner Golden ramped over a backcountry cattle guard, giving us this epic image! —WW

We were unconcerned that little green Martians might do to us what we did to the mountain roads in the background—scorch them—as we assumed they would recognize BMW's green monster as one of their own. The high desert and Eastern Sierra mountains seemed like a perfect location to test these otherworldly rides .

Every automotive photographer knows the words "one more time" are probably responsible for more accidents on photo and film shoots than any others. But the sun was low and illuminating the immense dust clouds being produced by the Jeep Wrangler 392 we were ripping around the red dirt of the Utah desert. We just had to do one more! Luckily, the quick reactions of the man behind the wheel, Four Wheeler chief and master off-roader Sean Holman, averted disaster and kept the Wrangler shiny side up. As a result, I captured this close call. —WW

Jonny Lieberman always brings me the coolest cars to shoot. In this case, Jonny's friend Paul Zuckerman let him steal his epically cool 1984 Audi Sport Quattro for the day. Jonny had the chance to live out his Walter Röhrl fantasies and I got to spend the day shooting one of my dream cars in the beautiful mountains that loom over Los Angeles. —WW

The new Ford Bronco is easily one of the most anticipated new vehicles of the last decade. Our first experience with a roadgoing example came in the form a four-door, Outer Banks trim level that we immediately threw into the aforementioned pseudo comparison test against the stalwart Jeep Wrangler. We headed into the California desert and this jump—really just a bump—was enough to get the Bronco to buck its hooves into the air. After the third attempt, I got on the radio and said, "Hey, Jonny, rein it in and quit horsing around before something gets broken and we get saddled with a big repair bill." See what I did there? (This is why they don't let me write very often. ) —WW

A couple of years ago I had the chance to photograph the Pagani Huayra BC Roadster in the MotorTrend studio. And while it's amazing to see this beauty in a studio, it's an altogether different experience to see and hear this V-12 monster ripping down twisty mountain roads. In order to get this shot, I had to be laying on the ground, inches from the road's edge. The sound emanating from the quad exhaust is something I won't soon forget. —WW

The Hummer EV Pickup is heavy—really heavy, in fact, as it weighs 8,976 pounds. During our 2022 Truck of the Year event, we nearly maxed out this vehicle lift's 10,000-pound capacity in order to get a peek at the underside. I'm sure it was safe, but I definitely didn't spend too long directly underneath. —WW

We at MotorTrend are incredibly lucky to have access to a number of world-class vehicle testing facilities in our backyard. Honda's California Proving Center provided a perfect place to not only evaluate trucks during the 2022 Truck of the Year competition, but it also served as a dramatic backdrop for amazing images and video. In order to set up this awesome shot, I acted as cat herder in order to precisely coordinate the positions of all five vehicles with their drivers while also directing our drone operator to the ideal position. —Brian Vance

Alex Taylor's '55 Chevy is photographed here on a random road at the outskirts of Norwalk, Ohio. I quickly snapped this shot while I was scouting other photo locations on my phone using Google Maps. Despite my unfamiliarity with the area, we still managed to grab some really nice car-to-car photos for the subsequentHOT RODfeature story . —RD

This is Dave Schroeder's C7 Corvette launching off the line on its way to being named the overall winner ofHOT RODDrag Week 2021 . It's probably the loudest car I've ever heard, and definitely one of the quickest, too, boasting a quickest pass of 6.46 seconds at around 209 mph. —RD

A panning shot of Steve Winningham's LS-powered 1981 Mustang and a stock Chevy Camaro from Drag Week . Every type of build is welcome at HRDW. —RD

While standing inside the burnout box at US 131 Motorsports Park, I was able to grab this awesome shot of a young kid that obviously skipped school just to witness the loudest and quickest street cars in America. —RD

We explored plenty of off-road terrain this year in the new Ford Bronco , but none so close to home as in this photo. During an after-hours beach hangout, we surreptitiously drove the Bronco across the sand and into the surf—sort of. See, this is a Traxxas TRX-4 Bronco , a 1:10-scale, remote-control rock crawler that came to be a favorite pandemic pastime of this author. This all-electric baby Bronco is a beast, featuring four-wheel drive, locking differentials, and awesome axle articulation. Unfortunately, a bit of sand ingestion seized the motor and ended the fun, but it was totally worth it for this epic shot, as the next day a freshwater rinse and blast of compressed air revived our little pal. It's been chewing up trails ever since. —Alex Leanse

During Four Wheeler 's Four Wheeler of the Year testing , we were trekking across a mountain road looking for a spot to stage a group shot. We found an open space and I lined up the trucks to capture them under a gorgeous sky as the sun set. —BL

We make an annual visit to Hyundai's proving grounds in California City for a weeklong residency, during which we drive, test, film, and photograph all the newest models. As we scoured the property for a new location at which to shoot this year's Car of the Year contestants, we discovered Hyundai's power brake hill, gathered all the cars at the top, and asked the proving ground manager to fly his drone high above for unique vantage point. The resulting photo is a unique take on the traditional group shot. —BV