► Our team reveals the cars we’re most excited for in 2025
► From groundbreaking EVs to affordable family cars
► And a few supercars thrown in, naturally
The automotive industry is a fascinating place right now. In a bizarre state of flux between manufacturers pushing sales of their EVs to meet targets yet still keen to sell more profitable ICE cars to maintain demand.
As a result, 2025 is shaping up to be one of the most varied in the automotive world, with everything from budget city cars to electric Caterhams in the pipeline. But what are we most looking forward to in 2025? CAR’s writers reveal all. CAR’s writers reveal what they’re looking forward to most in 2025.
The best EVs are great cars first, EVs second. I haven’t driven the new Renault 5 yet but I’m confident we can stick Renault’s knockout hatch in that category. As a family we really don’t need a new car. But I’m spending every idle moment (many, many idle moments) on the 5 configurator, nonetheless.
Moreover, the 5 does it for me in a way the Alpine A290, despite its greater focus and speed, does not. The best – a car between the two; the electric 5 equivalent of Peugeot’s old ‘nearly a GTI’ XS, if you will – may be yet to come…
I tearfully bade farewell to my own Giugiaro Panda 4×4 in 2024 so I’m really hoping the new Grande Panda can channel a bit of the old’s spirit. It really needs to. Fiat has become more of an eggs-in-one-basket brand than even Tesla so both the company and wider car industry need it to start firing again.
Stellantis parts bin excesses will need to be avoided, or masked over, and it’ll need to riff on some of the original’s charming functionality. We’ll find out early in 2025.
I’ve been watching Jag’s relaunch with interest as I’ve always had an interest in them since my dad brought back his new car – a 3.0 V6 Jaguar S-Type (a big deal back then!) in the early noughties. I don’t necessarily buy into all the marketing around it, but there’s no denying it’s worked – everyone is talking about Jaguar and I can’t remember the last time that happened.
Plus, having seen pictures of the Type 00 I can’t help but be bowled over by something that has that much presence. Jaguar’s been brave and I can’t wait to see it in the flesh.
The BMW M2 was a close second on my list of favourite cars I drove this year. It had a playfulness and approachability to it that allowed me, a new starter, to get behind the wheel and still have a laugh. I even liked the way our press car looked – black on black with black wheels. It was a proper little pint-sized muscle car, which is why the CS has me so intrigued.
An even grittier version with less weight and more power sounds like a handful, but I can’t wait to give the new M2 CS a go. Black on black on black with a manual will do nicely.
Yes, yes, I know – motoring journalist wants to drive 911, shock. And, yes, of course the 911 S/T isn’t exactly new any more, so I probably should have driven it already. But I haven’t. And I’d like to. And I’m very much hoping that some kind of excuse will be made for that to happen in 2025.
Sure, I’m also pretty interested in trying one of the new 992.2 hybrid models, but it’s the purity of the outgoing S/T with its reduced weight and screaming rev-limit that still appeals to me above any other car with a Porsche badge right now.
It’s finally happened. Someone’s building an electric car I’m excited to drive – and, of course, that someone had to be Caterham. But why has this little bug-eyed coupe tied my knickers in such a knot? Well, it’s because most electric cars weigh more than your average council estate, but the Project V is going to be light. Really light.
Caterham’s targeting a kerb weight of 1190kg which, to put that figure into perspective, is around 200kg less than the most basic Porsche 718 Cayman. That means we’re staring down the barrel of what could be the first ever electric car that’ll handle like an old school petrol. Not one carting about a half tonne of cement in its boot. Oh yeah, and it has 268bhp. And a 0–62mph time of 4.5 seconds. And I can’t wait to do a skid in it.
I’ve got a big soft spot for the RS6 as it stands – it’s a car that may not be the last word in dynamics compared to an M5 or (now-dead) AMG E-Class, but it’s 90 per cent there. It also feels less brittle to withstand family life, and I’d argue you can surely climb a snowy Alpine mountain in one faster than a comparable German, too.
Why am I looking forward to it? Because of the amount of choice we’re getting this time around. A stonking EV on a competent platform, but lower to the ground than an e-Macan? Sounds ace – especially when m’colleague Alan Taylor-Jones commends the standard A6 e-Tron (pictured above) already. A V6 hybrid RS7 instead? Even if we’re losing the V8, it sounds like a riot if Audi Sport’s most recent crop of cars is anything to go by. And the choice of a sleek saloon *or* an Avant this time? There really is going to be something for everyone.
Pickups are not known for their innovative approach, so the forthcoming plug-in hybrid Ford Ranger provides a genuine moment of intrigue.
The general attitude to electrification in the pickup market has been ‘But that is no good when it comes to heading out into the mountains’. Even if most trucks never leave the farm or the local country park.
The Ranger is the biggest selling pickup in the UK, and an electrified version could well change a lot of diesel-centric attitudes. Especially when buyers realise they can plug their tools into it – handy when they are up at the top field and nowhere near power.
I for one can’t wait to see the Brave New World of Jaguar. Will history judge the reset a success? Will the rebrand make sense, once the hullabaloo dies down? You certainly can’t accuse Coventry of timidity and I look forward to the day later in 2025 when we finally see the production progeny of Type 00.
If the showroom car captures the spirit and grandeur of the concept, that’ll be half the battle won. JLR knows its Range Rover customer base inside out – let’s hope it can translate that world of attainable luxury into a lower-roofline class wearing the new Jag mascot.
Put simply, it’s a Mustang that’s lapped the Nordschleife in 6:57:66 with allegedly more to come. Having been amused by Mustangs and their tail happy nature since I first drove one in 2015, it’s a transformation that boggles my mind but shouldn’t surprise it.
After all, Multimatic also had a very large hand in the Ford GT, and having sat alongside a couple of professional racers around Goodwood and then Thruxton, I know they really know their stuff. If the GTD can generate Gs like that whilst providing a barely silenced supercharged V8 soundtrack, it’s going to be a wild ride.
With all the hooha surrounding the new Jaguar concept, and eventual production version, it’s easy to forget there’s a second very important new JLR model coming in 2025: the electric Range Rover. As a big Range Rover fanboy, I cannot wait.
It’s been a long time coming; customers were meant to be driving out of their Range Rover EVs out of showrooms by the end of 2024, but it’s still not even been revealed yet. Not that it will look much different, of course. Electric driving should suit the Range Rover’s serene road manners and make it even more unstoppable off-road. Fingers crossed it’s revealed soon.
The Dacia Bigster is an intriguing prospect. If looks the part, and I’m hoping that all the goodness that seems to have gone missing from the Duster has been channelled into its bigger sibling. It feels like a very worthwhile addition to the line-up, with a very clear role: bigger than the Duster, less hair-shirt than the Jogger, but still with the ruggedness and versatility that Dacia is built on.
Best case: it makes a dozen other mid-size crossovers look awkward, expensive and useless.
Worst case: another baffling addition to the Renault Group’s snow-storm of near-interchangeable SUVs.
You only have to look above to see there’s a lot of new metal to look forward to next year. Instead I’ll talk about motorsport which is set to be incredible in 2025 – on two wheels as well as four. In Formula One, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton will join Ferrari for the most blockbuster pairing seen on the grid since Michael Schumacher did the same. Meanwhile in MotoGP, Marc Marquez will also see red when he joins the factory Ducati team. Both Marquez and Hamilton still have the talent, desire and likely the machinery return to the top. Let’s see what happens.