For 2018, Volkswagen is introducing a new Passat GT model. The GT introduces some sporty touches to the Passat line. The Passat has mostly been about sensible family transportation until now, excluding the 2003-2004 Passat W8 perhaps. It would have been very easy for Volkswagen to come up with a sporty version of the Passat but they instead have gone for more luxurious models. It looks like Volkswagen is finally dipping their toes into the sports sedan waters to judge the public’s reaction with the Passat GT.

The seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf was introduced in 2012 in Europe, but it didn’t make it to U.S. soil until 2014, when it was launched for the 2015 model year. Slightly larger and sportier than its predecessor, the Mk7 also gained a revamped interior, new convenience and safety features, and a wide range of gasoline and diesel four-cylinder engines. The new-generation Golf also spawned a new GTi model, but a more powerful R version was also launched for 2015. With the regular model having received a facelift in 2016, an updated version of the Golf R followed for 2017.

As it is the case with most Volkswagen facelifts, the mid-cycle update doesn’t bring too many features. However, the Golf R is a bit sportier on the outside and benefits from the many technological improvements made to the lineup. The turbocharged engine was also uprated, but while the Golf R is now slightly more powerful than the Honda Civic Type R, it’s nowhere near as brawny as the impressiveFord Focus RS. How does it compare to the competition? Let’s find out in the review below.

12/12/2018: We’ve updated this review with new images of the 2018 Volkswagen Golf R taken at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Check them out in the gallery below!

The Audi RS5, built between 2010 and 2015, was powered by a screaming, high-revving, V-8 engine and was widely acknowledged as being one of the best of its kind. However, what do you do when your car doesn’t have an engine or its engine is junk and you need to replace it with something else? How about you slot in a Tesla motor and battery pack to see how that transforms the car.

Hydrogen fuel cell technology has been making headlines in the auto industry for a few decades now, with many claiming it’s the future of the fossil-free automobile. However, unlike the electric car market, the hydrogen segment has evolved rather slow, with most automakers opting to stay away from the big development costs and the expensive carbon-fiber fuel tanks. Until Toyota debuted the Mirai, Hyundai was the only company that actually launched a production model. The ix35 FCEV, also known as the Tuscon FCEV in some markets, was introduced in 2013. After several tests, full-scale production began in 2015 and examples were delivered in more than 20 countries worldwide. Come 2018 and Hyundai wants to take things up a notch with a brand-new model, called the Nexo.

Introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show, the event where automakers launch their high-tech products for a few years now, the Nexo will replace the ix35/Tucson FCEV. And the new hydrogen-powered EV is a significant departure from its predecessor. Not only riding on a new platform, it also features a unique design, a brand-new interior, and bespoke technology. And unlike many vehicles we usually see at the Consumer Electronics Show, the Nexo is ready to go into production and will become available in select markets later in 2018. Let’s find out more about Hyundai’s next-generation FCEV in the review below.

Update 12/12/2018: We’ve updated this review of images of the 2019 Hyundai Nexo taken at the 2018 Los Angeles Auto Show. Check them out int he gallery below!

If you think that you only really need winter tires on the driven axle of your vehicle, since it does all the pulling or pushing, then think again. Doing something like that can pose a serious safety hazard. Different grip levels for the front and rear can result in a very unsafe handling experience on snow, and the vehicle can go into a snap oversteer maneuver, careening into oncoming traffic.

Although Hyundai didn’t offer an SUV until the Terracan was introduced in 2001 (the 1991 Galloper doesn’t really count since it was a rebadged Mitsubishi), the Korean firm now has four different crossovers on offer. The latest to join the family is the Kona, and it’s the company’s first subcompact offering. But more importantly, it’s the first subcompact SUV to get an all-electric version. Unveiled in February 2018, the Kona Electric is the first of its kind on the European market and crosses the pond to the U.S. for 2019.

Much like any other EV or hybrid based on a conventional vehicle, the Kona Electric is very similar to the gasoline-powered Kona. The styling carries over with a few changes inside and out, while the equipment lines remain pretty much the same. It’s the drivetrain that makes a big difference, as the Kona Electric doesn’t use dinosaur juice. What’s more, the Kona Electric comes with impressive performance and range of a crossover that will cost significantly less than the expensive Tesla Model X. Let’s find out more about that in the review below.

Update 12/12/2018 We’ve updated this review with fresh images of the 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric take at the 2018 Los Angeles Auto show. Check them out in the gallery below!

Journalists have tried out the all-new, seventh-gen, 2019 BMW 3-Series G20 at its official launch event in Portugal, and first impressions of the car are really good. You’d expect BMW to want to pull out all the stops in order to get its smallest and most popular sedan right and, apparently, it did.

First introduced for the 2003 model year, the Lincoln Aviator was initially offered as a luxury sport utility vehicle for the mid-size segment. After failing to meet sales expectations, Lincoln axed the nameplate in 2005 after just a few years in production. Now, however, as nationwide SUV sales continue onwards into the stratosphere, the Aviator makes its triumphant second-generation return for the 2020 model year, slotting in between the Nautilus and the standard wheelbase Navigator in Lincoln’s lineup. The latest model offers elegant styling, a top-notch interior layout, oodles of comfort, the latest tech, and a super torquey hybrid engine option.

It’s not even 2019, and we’re already talking about the hybridized version of the new 992-generation Porsche 911. Yes, the plug-in model will only be unveiled in late 2020 for the 2021 model but August Achleitner, Porsche’s current head of sports car development, has already shed some light on how the German company prepared for this move.

We knew ever since the new 911 was presented to the world at the L.A. Auto Show that it would have some built-in features that would, later on, make the adaptation of a hybrid powertrain simpler. Now, we get a bit of insight of how Porsche is working to fit the battery pack and the electric motors onto the 911s platform.

The Porsche Macan often gets overshadowed by its bigger and more accomplished brother, the Porsche Cayenne. But, that’s about to change because the new Macan S breaks the crossover out of its shell. Not only is the 2019 Macan S sexier, but it also packs a new engine that produces more power than its predecessor. Those three elements are the biggest highlights of the new Macan S, underscoring what we’ve all been waiting for from the model since it first arrived in 2014. Put together; the new Macan S sheds its rough-around-the-edges label in favor of a more balanced ride. Don’t look now, but it appears that Porsche’s entry-level crossover is ready for the big leagues. The new Porsche Macan S starts at $58,600.

We have something special for you today - the first look at the long-awaited Toyota Supra A90. SupraMKV forum leaked the picture that clearly shows the front end of the new Toyota Supra. Of course, nothing is official as of yet, but I am really confident that this is the real deal. It shows the Toyota Supra being transported by a car transport wagon. The photo we have does show clear links with the FT-1 concept Toyota presented five years ago. That is a really good thing as the FT-1 looks rather stunning. The first public image of the new Toyota Supra in grey is the biggest news today, and I can say right now that this car does not look like the Z4 as some have feared.

Back in 2007, BMW revealed a high-riding vehicle that would end up changing the SUV market segment forever: the X6. It was presented as a sportier and more aggressive looking version of the practical X5 luxury family hauler. As it turns out, it was about as close to an instant hit if I’ve ever seen such a thing in recent times in the automotive industry, taking buyers by storm, and completely shifting their perspective on what an SUV or crossover can look like.

It threw the familiar two-box design straight out the window and in its place BMW designers imagined a dramatic, sloping rear end design reminiscent of what we might call a fastback design on a lower, non-SUV car. Not everybody liked it to begin with, and many people still find the shape a bit contrived (the author of this article included). I have to admit I wasn’t over the Moon ecstatic when BMW announced it was going to make an X4 (which is nearly identical to the X6, but slightly smaller).

Then, after allowing BMW to have the newly created coupe SUV niche all to itself since 2008, Mercedes launched its own model to go head to head with the X6. By that time, however, the X6 was already in its second generation, and The Three-Pointed Star didn’t really present an innovative looking vehicle, but rather its interpretation of the X6 style grafted onto its GLE (which up until that point was known as the M-Class). Then Mercedes added a smaller version of the GLE, dubbed GLC Coupe, to go head to head with the X4, completely copying what its Bavarian rival did.

However, while nowadays even Renault is preparing a model with a similar shape and the new Geely-owned manufacturer Lynk & Co has one in the works, there are manufacturers out there who have not gone down the same design path when creating their sporty, rakish, coupe-like SUVs. This article focuses on those models whose underlying idea is the same (create a sporty SUV with a coupe twist) but whose execution is different and more original.

The Mercedes-AMG GLC 63 S Coupe is one of the fastest, most powerful SUVs in Mercedes’ repertoire right now. But German tuner GAD Motors is ready to offer an insane version with almost twice the power over twice the torque. The bundle of insanity that comes out of GAD’s workshop is capable of eating miles down the Autobahn at over 186 mph seemingly effortless.

The GLC-Class is a compact luxury SUV; the jacked up brother of the C-Class sedan. It was launched back in 2015, and the most powerful variant is the AMG-tuned GLC 63 S. It comes with an aggressive aerodynamic package with extended bumpers, side skirts, and huge 20-inch wheels. There’s room for more, though, and GAD Motors is doing just that, exploring the limits of the coupe-bodied SUV to the point that it reaches 62 mph faster than a McLaren 675LT, a Porsche 991 911 GT3 or a Ferrari 488.

With the impending introduction to the all-new 2020 Volkswagen Golf Mk8, we are in for numerous teasers, spy photos and, evidently, spy videos of the thing. Volkswagen already confirmed that it will start with the production of the all-new Golf Mk8 in June next year, and this means that we will see it long before then. Only days ago, a Facebook user “Tuned Automotive Magazine” published a video with a title - “Is This The Golf Mk8?” In there, one can see a wonderful dark red Golf with massive GTI wheels on the highway. While no one is certain of the authenticity of the video, one thing is certain - the video stirred some blood in the car community.

The 2020 Volkswagen Golf Mk8 will be unveiled for Europe next year. Heck, people there will be able to buy it in the second half of 2019. If I am to deduce about its U.S. debut, I’d have to say that the Golf will reach our shores and showrooms a year later - just as it was with the previous generation.

Yes, that is right. The 2020 Ford Shelby GT500 will have 3D printed parts! The most expected muscle car of the decade will be partially 3D printed. Well, partially is a slightly too strong word here. It will get two 3D printed parts. However, this made me think about the 3D printing Ford has been screaming about for the last couple of years. It may very well be the biggest change in the world of mass production in ages.

On December 1st, 1913, Henry Ford started the first moving assembly line for the mass production of a car. History.com reports that “his innovation reduced the time it took to build a car from more than 12 hours to two hours and 30 minutes.”

Jump to today, and astounding news has emerged - “The 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Have 3D Printed Parts Brakes?”

I wonder, could this innovation be as industry shattering as the first production line was all that time ago? Of course, I am not the only one who thought about this.

"More than 100 years ago, Ford created the moving assembly line, forever changing how vehicles would be mass-produced," Joe Hinrichs, Ford’s President of Global Operations, said in a statement. "Today, we are reinventing tomorrow’s assembly line — tapping technologies once only dreamed of on the big screen — to increase our manufacturing efficiency and quality."

Ford is one of the hundreds (if not thousands) of companies that are working on perfecting the 3D printing process. It has been doing it from the very start (all the way back in the Eighties), but since sometime in early 2000s, it integrated the 3D printing process into its production affairs. The result is a disturbing fact - if by some magic, 3D printing at Ford stopped, the company would not be able to produce cars.

At all.

"We touch a significant portion of the vehicle with 3D printing now," said Harold Sears, Technical Expert of rapid manufacturing technologies with Ford’s manufacturing division. "We’re prototyping virtually everything [using 3D printing] from the road to roof."

So, what the hell does all of this have with the Shelby GT500?

These are some facts you have to know:

Most cars you can buy nowadays are designed to look like wedges that seem as if they’re on the move when standing still. However, there are still those models that buck the trend, adopting a boxier and generally more upright look.

Some do it for functionality, others for pure style, but what’s certain is these boxy models don’t really constitute the norm, and you have to really do a thorough search to find them. This list doesn’t include Japanese Kei cars or JDM models in general (since we’d fill the list quite quickly), but I have included one Kei entry just to show a style of small car that is most popular in Japan.

You really won’t find them outside Japan, so elsewhere you have to look harder to get your boxy car and/or SUV kicks. From 2009 until 2014, Nissan sold the asymmetrical Cube people carrier outside Japan and that car would have made a great poster vehicle for this article, but now it’s been relegated to JDM-only status so that won’t work...

But, thankfully, such models do exist, if we concentrate on the sort of vehicles you can buy in North America and Europe. Here’s our list of the ten boxiest cars available in these regions, plus one super-boxy Kei car to represent Japan.

Were you expecting to see the mid-engine Corvette C8 at the Detroit Auto Show in January? Well, hold your breath no more because it’s not going to happen. When reached to comment about whether or not something will be unveiled at the 2019 North-American International Auto Show, GM stated that there’s nothing planned for the Chevrolet brand - something that’s leaving everyone frustrated.

The rumor mill’s been going and going at an unimaginable speed when it comes to the upcoming Corvette generation. It’s no wonder when you think that it’s been the wet dream of Zora Arkus-Duntov himself to see a mid-engine Corvette in showrooms and now it’s finally about to happen. But the unveiling won’t happen, as many were hoping, at the final Detroit Auto Show to be held in January. Instead, the only new car that will come from the whole GM stable should be Cadillac’s XT6 crossover. Not really something to cause a massive stir like the Corvette would have done.

After several years left on the shelf to rot, the Z4 nameplate is making its comeback. Official details are still trickling out, but now we’ve got a sneak peek at the goods thanks to a number of documents that just leaked online.

The BMW M3 Competition and BMW M4 CS might look pretty much identical, but put them side by side in a drag race, and there’s one very clear winner.

Unlike Prince Akeem, the new BMW 3 Series Sports Wagon is not coming to America. That’s the word from BMW itself after a spokesperson from BMW North America confirmed that the next-generation 3 Series Sports Wagon is not headed to the U.S. market. Simmer’s decision to skip on selling the 3 Series Sports Wagon in the U.S. ends the model’s 20-year run in America. BMW has sold the 3er wagon in the U.S. since the E46 generation, which lasted from 1998 to 2006 before making way for the E90 and F30 generations of the popular nameplate. But now that BMW has switched over to the all-new, G20 generation, the list of models available here in the U.S. will miss one staple. You can still buy a 3 Series Sport Wagon, but you’ll have to settle for the current-generation F30 model.

Are you still coming to grips with Subaru’s Japanese curry? Well, don’t spend too much time on it because there’s a new product making the rounds that makes the thought of Subie selling you packets of curry seem like a sound idea. This, dear friends, is a limited edition calendar from Ferrari. It’s limited because there are only 5,000 copies made. But its biggest selling point isn’t the fact that it’s limited, but because it’s scent-enhanced to reflect the smell of a Ferrari. Wait, what?

At the recent Volkswagen Brand Annual Session 2018, an event held for the employees and inventors of the company, Volkswagen released a sketch of the brand-new 2020 Golf Mk8. This is a big deal for the company who, more or less, built its riches on the success of the Golf’s seven previous generations. Volkswagen, is nowadays hatching ever so appealing hatches. Recently, the company released the Skoda Scala - a hatchback - that is set to take some Golf buyers. This fact alone reveals the truth about the new Golf - it will go upmarket. New tech, plusher looks, better materials inside, and more powerful engines are all coming to the Wolfsburg pride. In total, the Volkswagen Group produces four important hatchbacks - the Skoda Scala, the Audi A3, the Seat Leon, and the Volkswagen Golf.

While the sketch released at the event is quite vague, I managed to dig out so much more information on the new Golf Mk8, it’s like I can already imagine it in my head. Let’s go.

The new Ford Bronco will arrive in 2020, but those who can’t wait that long now have the opportunity to have their fill with the original Bronco courtesy of a company called Gateway Bronco. The Illinois-based outfit has been restoring the first-generation Bronco since it started operations in 2016. But thanks to a partnership with Ford, Gateway Bronco has announced plans to go beyond restoring original Broncos and will build brand new, old Broncos under license from Ford. Mind you; these aren’t Gateway’s “interpretation” of the original Broncos. These are original Broncos that Gateway will build with the blessing of Ford. They even come with a five-year, bumper-to-bumper warranty. Gateway plans to build three versions of the original Bronco, all in limited quantities. The price range of these models goes from $120,000 to $180,000.