Top 10 auto news stories of the past 12 months: the year in cars

What were the top auto news stories of 2018? Here’s our take, from ten to one, in order of ascending importance.

10. The sad death throes of the domestic passenger car in the U.S.

Ford killed the Fusion, Taurus, and Fiesta. They said they’d keep the focus—sort of—but only in a crossover version. Later, GM announced the death in the U.S. of several passenger cars including Impala, Volt, and Cruze.

Especially since European, Japanese, and Korean automakers continue to make interesting sedans and coupes, our take on this story is NOT that the U.S. market only wants SUVs and crossovers. Rather, we think U.S. automakers have generally lost their groove when it comes to making sedans and coupes that capture the imagination of the motoring public and bring out the latent car enthusiast within.

9. Ford admits they are neglecting the 50th anniversary, in 2019, of the Mustang Mach 1.

Maybe only those of us who are “older than dirt” still harbor a sentimental attachment to the Mach 1 nameplate, which launched in 1969, infusing the Mustang lineup with a new level of power at an accessible price point. So we’ll put the question out there for reader comment: do YOU think it’s a mistake that Ford isn’t doing anything in particular, like producing a special edition 2019 Mustang Mach 1, to honor the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Mustang Mach 1?

One can make a case that the 1969 and 1970 model years were the best ever for Mustang in terms of an exciting look and a formidable powertrain. After that, it was downhill for the Mustang for a very long time, as the nameplate went through a succession of womp-womp generations from the caricature-ish 1971-1973 models, which looked like Mavericks bloated out from indulging in too many pizzas, through the run of underpowered malaise-era Mustang IIs from 1974 through 1978. Things didn’t get better until the 1979 debut of the Fox body Mustangs.

In August, Ford spokesman Jiyan Cadiz admitted to AutoNewsblaster that there was “nothing to report” in terms of 2019 plans for 50th anniversary of the Mustang Mach 1, and that Ford was putting all of its special edition Mustang eggs for 2019 into the Bullitt and Shelby GT350 baskets.

There’s really nothing to dislike about the Bullitt that one might not already dislike (such as the departure from the round-headlight front-end design) about the current-generation Mustangs. And there are probably few enthusiasts who wouldn’t give props to the Shelby GT350.

Yet to ignore the Mach 1 seems somehow disrespectful to the spirit of the classic Mustang generations. Even more potentially disturbing to Mustang purists were the continued rumors—persisting in various forms over the course of 2018 but still never officially confirmed or denied—that Ford was considering applying the Mach 1 name to a new crossover, electric vehicle, or four-door performance sedan. However, the latest development—a November trademark filing for “MACH E”—suggests a possible pivot to another direction.

8. New electric Jaguar E-Types—yes, we said new.

As we pointed out in our story on Jaguar’s E-Type Zero announcement in August, the word “new” in this context needs some explaining. The “new” E-Types are actually restored originals, with a “reversible” retrofit with an electric powertrain.

Admittedly, selecting this topic for our top auto news stories of 2018 list may be a bit personal, given the strong sentimental attachment to Jaguars of our editor, who has a hard time imagining how anyone could resist breaking into a smile at the notion of a fully restored, mint-condition E-Type rolling out of the Jaguar Classic Workshop in the UK, propelled by the fully electric powertrain from the Jaguar I-PACE.

7. Toyota starts to breathe some new design life into their lineup.

Make no mistake: Toyota has given us many cool cars over the years, from Supra to MR2 to 86. And, lest we forget, they are the parent company responsible for many luscious Lexus models.

But we’re far from alone within the auto news community in having expressed dismay over the extent to which Toyota’s design department seemed to have fallen asleep at the wheel—for a long time. Toyota seemed to be stuck in the design doldrums for 10 years or more.

When is the last time you can remember something new from Toyota taking your breath away? They have been accused of lapsing into a mode where they have been getting away with making unimaginative “appliances on wheels” that consumers nevertheless continue to buy eagerly, due to Toyota’s well-deserved reputation for reliability.

But in 2018, things began to change. One of the most notable signs of the shift was Toyota’s announcement in March of the 2019 Toyota Corolla Hatchback.

You could say that the initial positioning was a little wishy-washy, implying that it was “kinda-sorta” a hot hatch: “Hot hatch? More like haute hatch” is how Toyota tried to encapsulate the vibe in the press release that followed the vehicle’s debut at the 2018 New York International Auto Show. With this reveal, Toyota showed their hand with an effort to resonate with younger buyers by giving Corolla some sportier, more kinetic-styling cues and a vibrant color palette, while integrating the generous offering of tech features that Millennials and Gen Z crave.

It’s was a clear attempt to make Corolla an “all things to all people” nameplate within the more youthful or young-at-heart segments of the automotive market. But the launch nevertheless won more of the kind of attention Toyota wanted, demonstrating that a pledge in 2017 that the company was going to stop making “boring cars” was starting to bear fruit. It was enough to get critics to take a second look at the Corolla hatchback and at least utter a grudging emanation along the lines of “Hmmm. That’s interesting.”

Later in the year, a display of some cool-looking Corolla hatchback custom builds at SEMA even further legitimized the credibility of a “kinda sorta a hot hatch” claim.

So will this feisty new Corolla flavor motivate, say, a current Volkswagen GTI owner to make the switch to Toyota? Not likely. Toyota, being Toyota, is unlikely to be laser-targeting a niche as specialized as hardcore hot hatch enthusiasts.

Toyota’s “customer avatar” for the Corolla hatchback is probably someone more like a young, possibly married professional who wants a car that he or she is comfortable with from a practicality, safety, and reliability perspective but also likes the idea of owning a vehicle that has some level of “driver’s car” cred.

Other signs of change for the better at Toyota’s design department included some nice new visual touches for the Camry and hints at even better things to come with a preview of the 2020 Toyota Camry TRD. With sportier, more complex lines and angles, an aggressive (dare we say a little sinister-looking?) wing, and chrome dual exhaust tips, perhaps this naughtier version of the Camry, promised for release this fall, can steal some thunder from a performance sedan like the Kia Stinger.

And, of course, the Supra is coming. Let’s hope, for Toyota’s sake, that it lives up to the anticipation that has built up through the years Toyota has been promising the return of their legendary sports car.

6. Mazda chooses an entry-level model—the Mazda 3—to unveil the next progression of their “Kodo” design language.

In featuring the reveal of the 2019 redesign for the Mazda 3 as the highlight of their presence at the LA Auto Show, Mazda made some bold and arguably contrarian statements.

First, they showed a commitment to delivering an appealing, quality product at an accessible level of their lineup. The Mazda 3 reveal told the market that Mazda is willing to sell them an inspiringly-designed yet affordably-priced subcompact, in contrast to an industry that has tended for years to dump lookalike commodity vehicles at the lower end, saving the best work for high-priced status symbols and aspirational models.

Second, Mazda demonstrated a commitment to doing something new and interesting in the passenger car format, in a climate that has much of the industry focusing nearly all of its energies on crossovers, SUVs, and trucks.

5. The Kia Stinger.

First, we should explain that, even though it was still 2017 when the Stinger was teased and launched, we consider this a 2018 story because the Stinger debuted as a 2018 model-year car.

Launching a big, powerful front-engine/rear-wheel drive 4-door GT car as a viable answer to the Porsche Panamera was a big deal for the Korean automaker, a landmark moment that pushed Kia to a new level of credibility with the enthusiast community. The Stinger is making a transformational impact on the image of Kia’s brand.

4. The Hellephant.

When FCA revealed at SEMA 2018—at 4:26 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon—that Mopar is producing a Hemi crate engine that makes 1,000 horsepower and 950 foot-pounds of torque, it was something that inevitably garnered a reaction on two different levels.

On one level, you chuckle and shake your head at the realization that something like the Hellephant crate engine can even exist in this age of café standards and green-vehicle tax incentives. Yet on another level, you’re glad—at least if you’re among those of us who still appreciate the thrill, explosiveness, and sound of a powerful internal-combustion motor—that such a thing can exist.

That a truly global company like FCA is continuing to make investments in products that enable the naughty habits of hot rodders and muscle car builders is still more evidence that the current rumors of the death of internal combustion remain quite premature.

3. Tesla survives some tough tests.

Tesla’s 2018 trials included a “near-death” experience when, as admitted by Elon Musk, the company almost ran out of money. But they persevered and finally started getting long-awaited deliveries on track for the Model 3, ultimately reaching a level that allowed Tesla to claim that the Model 3 is the largest selling luxury car in the United States.

2. Volkswagen’s electrifying Pikes Peak victory.

In June, Volkswagen won and broke the all-time record in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, in the I.D.R. Pikes Peak, a race car purpose-built to shatter the record in this specific competition.

An event like this that underscores the motorsports capabilities of electric cars was probably the best thing that could happen to open more minds of die-hard internal combustion fans to the virtues of EVs. And it was giant leap forward for Volkswagen on their road to recovery from the company’s PR crises of recent years.

1. And our pick for the top auto news story of the year? The continued buzzwordization of “mobility.”

Ah, the “M-word”—M for mobility, that is. To folks like environmentalists and those who relish being early adopters of all new technological concepts, “mobility” is the latest shiny object to embrace.

In contrast, to many of us in the car enthusiast community, or for those who just generally value the freedom of owning vehicles we can fully control in terms of where you go and how you get there, the M-word can seem like a menacing threat.

In 2018, the elevation of mobility to mainstream buzzword status accelerated rapidly.

Virtually all of the major automakers are pushing the multifaceted concept of mobility to some extent or another. And so are other stakeholders like tech companies, think tanks, and government agencies.

It’s difficult not to conclude that there isn’t a hard push afoot from powerful sectors to change the shape what transportation will look like as we advance further into the 21st century. It’s also difficult not to conclude that part of the “agenda” is to gradually win more people over to the notion that a future that does not involve total ownership of vehicles we use, a future in which we “buy mobility” and pay for it as we go instead of buying cars, might not be such a bad thing.

Like most technology-driven changes, you can look at the mobility concept from both utopian and dystopian points of view. The issue is also highly politicized—you don’t have to scratch very far beneath the surface to see that.

On the utopian side, it’s a vision of a future in which individual or family vehicle ownership is a thing of the past, no longer looked at as even desirable. Transportation is accessible and affordable for everyone. A vehicle arrives promptly when you need one, and is gone, serving other people’s needs, when you don’t need it. The cost of ownership and operation, for whatever entity owns the vehicle, is supported not only by end-user fees but also probably by commercial messages and sponsored onboard infotainment services, all delivered to users who are passive riders rather than drivers. Motor vehicle accidents are all but unheard of, a memory of a distant past.

But on the dystopian side, it’s a much bleaker vision in which the “autonomy” belongs to the vehicle and not the rider. It’s a future in which, perhaps, some dude may get into a vehicle outside his home in Toms River New Jersey and say, “Car, please take me to my cabin in Cascade, Idaho, using only rural roads and the U.S. Numbered Highway System”—only to have a synthesized voice from the vehicle, in an ostensibly polite yet somehow subtly menacing tone, respond with something along the lines of “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m not allowed to use those routes for your trip today. Would you like me to show you some alternatives?”

Or, even worse, the dystopian imagination might envision the autonomous vehicle telling Dave that it isn’t allowed to take him to Idaho at all.

Nevertheless, in reality, things will probably play out over the next two or three decades in the way that, well, things usually play out: with change happening much more subtly, slowly, and incrementally than we expect. That said, the future of mobility is one that we who are car enthusiasts, or who simply value the current choices we have in our “mobility solutions,” can still shape—as long as we have the initiative, foresight, and courage to make our voices heard, starting now.

Because we probably really should have started years ago.