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It’s been almost a year since Mercedes-Benz introduced the fourth-generation A-Class and we’re pretty anxious to see the new AMG A45 model. Thankfully, we don’t have to wait long as the beefed-up hatchback is set to break cover at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. And the good news is that it will deliver more than 400 horsepower!

Proudly sitting as the main attraction at Kia’s 2019 Chicago Auto Show stand, the new 2020 Kia Sportage introduced us to a number of novelties, most important of which is its amazing standard safety pack. The subtle facelift touched the 2020 Kia Sportage’s front and back end and gifted low-end models with even more tech. While this is basically all that’s important on the newest Sportage, it seems that this compact SUV really doesn’t need more improvement. It is a value-centered compact SUV, and it does all it should really well. After all, it does have some legacy to defend. Believe it or not, the Sportage was the first car with a knee airbag back in 1998. Heck, it is even the first vehicle to complete the Paris-Dakar rally and the Baja 1000. It did it in 1993 and 1995, respectively. While Kia is not really big on promoting these facts, I can tell you that the new Sportage really does epitomize the safety proves and the sporty character of its predecessors.

The Skoda Kamiq is the company’s third crossover and its smallest SUV yet. Designed for the subcompact market, the Kamiq was created and built in China by the SAIC Volkswagen joint venture. Unveiled at the 2018 Beijing Auto Show and launched on the Chinese market in June 2018, the Kamiq is finally coming to Europe. The crossover will break cover at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. As the company’s third SUV since 2016, the Kamiq joins the midsize Kodiaq and the compact Karoq on the European market. The Kamiq replaces the Yeti, which was discontinued back in 2017, and shares underpinnings with the Volkswagen T-Roc and the Seat Arona, among other Volkswagen vehicles. It will compete with the successful Nissan Juke and its upcoming successor. Until the crossover debuts in Geneva, here’s what we already know about it.

If you are a true car enthusiast, you need to own an Alfa Romeo at least once in your lifetime. Driving the Stelvio Quadrifoglio really proves that the Alfa Romeo experience is still there. But, most importantly, the Stelvio feels special, and that really sets it apart from everything else. We spent a few days with the Stelvio and could not get enough, and that was just driving around town. If there was a race track around, we probably would not stop until there was no fuel or tires left. The Stelvio, at least in the Quadrifloglio configuration, is just a beautifully crafted machine that begs to be driven.

Volkswagen is approaching the end of the development phase of the new Volkswagen Golf 8 - the most connected Golf of all time. But before I proceed with bombarding you with all the incredible things I’ve learned about it, let me just give you a glimpse of its importance through my experience.

It was 2004, my finishing year of elementary school when Volkswagen revealed the Golf MkV GTI. I remember that day vividly because that was the day I was directly exposed to the culture of the Volkswagen Golf aficionados that I subconsciously wanted to avoid. That day, during recess, one kid came running in the schoolyard carrying a ProAuto car magazine in his hands and basically yelling, “New GTI, New GTI.” He did not buy lunch out of his pocket money, but a car magazine with a GTI on its cover. Every single kid that had heard him charged at him to see what kind of a Golf the new GTIwill be. I ran too. I was struggling to see what the new Golf looks like and we all jostled each other to get a glimpse of the car.

That moment alone changed my perception of Golf for a lifetime. And, believe it or not, that car magazine I was telling you about - I started working there some years later.

Now, exactly 15 years after I saw the Golf MkV GTI for the first time, I have the opportunity to witness the reveal of the Golf 8 (and I believe the GTI). 15 years ago, Volkswagen proudly chanted in its press release “It is [Golf GTI] stronger, better and more sought after than ever.” The Golf MkVIII will be exactly that - stronger, better and more sought after than ever. But also, more connected than ever.

GMC has unveiled the facelifted Acadia. Although we all expected just a few tweaks to the body and the cabin, GMC actually packed the Acadia with more than that. The 2020 GMC Acadia is now available with a new turbocharged engine, new technology, and a host of other features. Hell, the company has even launched a new trim level for the 2020 model year. Is GMC giving the Acadia a major push to capture a bigger market share from one of the fiercest segments?

Mini is a company that should be taken seriously when it sets about building a performance car. That’s why we stood up and listened when, late last year, we heard that the Mini Cooper JCW GP was coming back in 2020 after what will be a seven-year hiatus. Now, we’re seeing the first spy shots and, as you’d expect, it’s the Cooper JCW dialed up to 11 with some cues ported straight from the devilishly cool 2017 Cooper Works GP Concept. We want it now, together with its +300 horsepower!

Traditionally, the GP version of the Cooper Works is the ultimate performance model. In the past, John Cooper Works, which is long for JCW, built two GP models based on the previous two generations of the Mini. Of the last GP, which bowed out in 2014, only 2,000 examples exist, and just 500 were sold in the U.S., so expect the new model to also be a rare bird. Talking about birds, the GP will once again mark the swansong of the third-generation Mini Hatch with a new one coming soon.

Four years after dropping jaws on the floor of the North American International Auto Show, we learn the Hyundai Santa Cruz Concept could finally come to our lives in the next few years. Just don’t expect the production version to look anything like the concept that caused a ruckus in Detroit back in 2015. Time is the biggest culprit behind this shift. It’s been four years since Hyundai unveiled the Santa Cruz, and a lot has changed within Hyundai during that time. The company’s new decision-makers are taking a different approach from the regime that championed the concept’s production back then. It remains to be seen how the different stylistic approach affects the production model’s appeal, but that’s also just one of many questions that Hyundai needs to answer before the production pickup arrives.

The 2019 Ford Focus ST is the performance-oriented version of the fourth-generation Focus, a hatchback unveiled in 2018. Introduced in February 2019, the new Focus ST brings many changes to the table, including a bigger EcoBoost engine, more power than ever, and state-of-the-art technology. Unlike its predecessors, the new Focus ST won’t come to the U.S., as Ford decided to stop offering most of its passenger cars in North America. The previous-gen Focus ST was already more powerful than its main competitor, the Volkswagen Golf GTI, and the new hatchback takes things up a notch. Rated at 276 horsepower, it’s also more powerful than the Hyundai i30 N with the Performance Package, which places the Focus ST at the top of its segment. Alongside the new 2.3-liter EcoBoost engine, Ford also unveiled a new EcoBlue mill for diesel enthusiasts that want an alternative to the Golf GTD. Let’s find out how the new Focus ST compares to its rivals in the review below.

Ducati’s Multistrada family is well established at the top end of the adventure-bike field, but the Pikes Peak is the absolute pinnacle of development and it serves as Ducati’s flagship model. As its devilishly clever name suggests, the Pikes Peak is built around hill-climbing performance, and that applies to both engine output and handling. A robust electronics suite packs in all sorts of safety-oriented yummygoodness on top of top-shelf suspension components with carbon-fiber bits here and there to drop sprung and unsprung weight.

Toyota had an eventful time at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show. It was not just the Sequoia getting honored with the TRD Pro badge, or Toyota presenting the 2020 Tacoma. The automaker revealed the TRD Off-road version of the RAV4. Toyota’s trusted compact crossover was beefed-up and launched with more off-road capability. Does the RAV4 TRD Off-Road make a compelling case for itself as an ’off-roader"?

Toyota has been jacking up its trucks and SUVs and slapping them with the TRD Pro cadge for a long time now. The ’TRD Pro’ suffix is a privilege of sorts these days, and the vehicles that are honored with it go on to become big. Seeing mainstream Toyota vehicles injected with TRD DNA are a blessing. At the Chicago Auto Show, the Japanese giant decided to add one more model to its lineup that included the Tundra, Tacoma, and the 4Runner. Toyota teased the new addition to the TRD Pro family a few days before the Chicago Auto Show commenced and people took wild guesses to figure out which model had been drugged. But Toyota dropped a bomb when the vehicle happened to be the age-old Sequoia SUV. Well, the rest is history.

Ford Performance has finally unveiled the all-new Ford Focus ST. Although it does not feature a lot of exterior and interior changes, the hatch is pumped up on the inside. Under the hood sit’s as much as 276 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque just waiting to be unleashed. On paper, the 2020 Ford Focus ST seems very promising. Does it have enough to take on the Volkswagen Golf GTI/GTD?