Astra, Aygo X and Artura lead the way for a bumper year for new cars in 2022
IF 2021 was a pretty good year for new cars, 2022 is going to be a blinder.
Here are the 22 most significant.
Strangely, there’s not a single conventional supermini among them.
Moving on, then, to the family hatches.
Most important is the Vauxhall Astra.
It’s got similar suspension and engines to the excellent Peugeot 308 which we drove earlier this year.
That’s because both are now part of the giant Stellantis conglomerate.
But the Astra will no longer be made in Britain.
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The Ellesmere Port factory is being turned over to electric vans.
They’re in huge demand with all our online shopping.
Meanwhile, Honda’s Swindon factory has shut altogether.
The 2022 Honda Civic will be imported.
It’s the first one to get hybrid power, but Honda has already shown it can do this with its other big sellers.
The BMW 2 Series Active Tourer is being renewed.
Which flies in the face of fashion, as it’s a people carrier and families are instead flocking to crossovers.
Toyota is launching the pocket-sized city crossover, Aygo X.
Dacia’s Jogger starts at £15k.
That’s a staggering bargain given it’s a seven-seater, a sort of stretched crossover-cum-estate.
The Citroen C5X is another mash-up, a big hatchback-cum-crossover.
Meanwhile, at premium prices for more conventional crossovers, a new generation of the hugely successful BMW X1 is on the way.
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Alfa Romeo is pitching in with a direct rival, called the Tonale.
Now, the first of the electrics.
Nissan is finally launching something bigger and better than the Leaf.
It’s the Ariya crossover.
More electric crossover rivals are coming: the Toyota bZ4x and Subaru Solterra and Lexus RZ.
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But I’m counting them as one or I’ll bust the 22, and they’re basically the same car.
The Toyota and Subaru even look the same, but the Lexus has its own jazzy styling and more sports-lux attitude.
Directly rivalling the Lexus, you’ll have the choice of the Genesis GV60.
Genesis? It’s a posh Hyundai
The GV60 uses the same battery tech as the excellent Hyundai Ioniq 5.
Bigger than that, Volvo has an electric replacement for the XC90, favourite of big suburban families.
It will probably be called Embla, not XC90.
And the favourite of suburban minicabbies, the Mercedes E-Class, will be joined by an all-electric saloon called the Mercedes EQE.
Now some powerful petrol SUVs.
The super-lux Range Rover, the sporty Maserati Grecale, the bonkers-fast £300k Ferrari Purosangue.
And at the other extreme the boxy super-tough Ineos Grenadier.
It should also be a good year for British supercars.
Lotus has its pure-petrol Emira and McLaren the hybrid Artura.
Aston Martin should finally finish off its F1-related science project, the screaming-rapid Valkyrie.
Back down to earth.
On the van front, Ford is launching the all-electric E-Transit, though you’ll still be able to get diesel.
And Volkswagen is launching the ID Buzz, a modern interpretation of the original Transporter.
On top of all those are cars we’ve tested that haven’t yet made it to Britain.
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Stand by for the Kia Sportage, Tesla Model Y, Renault Megane, Cupra Born, BMW i4, and Toyota GR86.
Like I said, a bumper year.
