It’s a process that really gathered steam this year, but 2024 will be the year where most big new car launches will be of electric vehicles. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, soon there will simply no way of avoiding them. But those considering taking the plunge still need to understand a few key facts above them: first that the infrastructure is still nowhere near good enough, second that electricity bought on motorways is already more expensive than petrol, and is likely to become only more so. Consider too that range claims needed to be treated with the healthiest dose of cynicism: what matters is the number of miles elapsed before charging the car becomes your most important priority. And if that number is even two-thirds of what its maker claims, you’ll have done well indeed.
Finally remember these cars may no longer be in their infancy, but they’re still not out of short trousers yet. It’s barely been a dozen years since the first credible EV, the Nissan Leaf, went on worldwide sale and the trend remains toward building bigger, heavier cars with larger batteries to extend their range. This trajectory is simply not sustainable and 12 years from now we’ll look back in near disbelief at the electric behemoths being foisted upon us now. EVs will become smaller and lighter, partly because the infrastructure will allow it, but mainly because they’ll have to.
In the meantime, here are some of the more interesting cars being lined up for sale in 2024.
Alfa Romeo will launch the Milano, its first ever EV and given that it’s based on the same platform used by the excellent Jeep Avenger there is absolutely no excuse for getting it wrong. A small electric crossover SUV may not be everyone’s idea of what an Alfa should be, but it remains crucial to the long overdue rehabilitation of the brand.
Aston Martin has an absolutely huge year, almost all of it beginning with ‘V’. It will start delivering its 110-off retro-styled Valour and we should be driving the Valhalla hypercar before the year is out. But between these pillars lies the really important stuff: a radically facelifted Vantage and a replacement DBS which all my money says is going to be called Vanquish.
BMW is in for a quieter year than usual, the highlight likely to be only the third-ever estate version of the M5. There will be more details on the one we’re all waiting for – the fine looking and promising ‘Neue Klasse’, but it’ll likely be 2025 before we drive it.
Meanwhile over at Ferrari the smart money says this will be the year we’ll see the next in the long line of limited edition ultimate hypercars that stretches back to the ‘288’ GTO of 1984. That led to the F40, F50, Enzo and LaFerrari but the new car is likely to be rather different. Spy shots show an enormous rear wing suggesting that, unlike any predecessor, this will be an ‘aero’ car, deriving a large proportion of its speed from downforce rather than just pure power and mechanical grip. Expect too for it not to be a V12, but a super-boosted twin turbo hybrid V6. And we’ll see a replacement for the 812 Superfast, which will certainly retain its V12, but likely with hybrid assistance for the first time in a production V12.
