The future is always exciting. Technology, design, and even comfort usually get a big boost in the coming years as science advances. When it comes to goods, the demands of the consumers often also change so companies need to keep up with that demand, or go the way of the dodo. The same goes for auto giants. In fact, around every decade or so, cars tend to undergo a sea of change in technology, safety and of course luxury. And since there are so many auto giants in competition with more coming up each year, car brands race to keep up with each other and outdo each other. For consumers, this means better cars at cheaper prices and whoever manages to bring in a new technology, a better design or a price drop first usually is the winner. Unless the car itself is messed up!
We list 20 upcoming cars that seem a little dicey to us – whether they do well or not is uncertain. But most have their doubts about these vehicles which do not seem off to a very auspicious start. Of course, since they have already been announced and revealed, we will see these cars in the future. But will we like them? Now that’s another matter altogether. So here go 20 upcoming cars we aren’t terribly excited about, but then again, we could be proven wrong.
20 2025 Apple Car
This news may or may not be true but it certainly feels like a weird dream. If this peculiar dream gets realized it may be one of the worst choices any automaker would have made ever. And the question is where will you drive this uncanny dream machine, the Apple car?
Especially from an electronics giant that has no prior real-world automobile manufacturing experience, not even in design.
Like the iPhone, it would be an exclusive and costly affair, another reason for the Apple car to end up as a lemon. It is rumoured to be a fully electric car that will go for full autonomy aka be self-driving.
19 2020 Mercedes EQA
The EQA is an all-electric hatchback that is a part of Mercedes-Benz’s next generation of EQ series electric vehicles. This compact car may hit the floor by 2020. The reason why it may be a flop lies in its unexciting design. It has a lacklustre nose and a petite hatch in the rear. The boot space is not enough to carry our stuff. The only plus point being its 268-horsepower electric motor that is capable of achieving a 0-60 mph sprint in about five seconds. But being one of the first Mercedes electric cars in the segment, it is also bound to be exclusive and expensive. And with this size, it may not be worth the money spent.
18 Tesla Pickup
This Ute may not look like a Ute or rather have any utility when it arrives in the market. The way things are moving for the yet-to-be-launched Tesla Roadster and the very overbooked Model 3, the Tesla Pickup may take more than a decade to reach its prospective buyers. According to Elon Musk, “it’s a pickup that can carry a pickup truck”.
Tall claims and we doubt it could outdo even a regular Ford F-150.
And there is another issue; Tesla is renowned for its fleet of luxurious and expensive electric cars that are too costly for actual work. Think of it as a white elephant - its looks great, is expensive to maintain and has nothing more than show value.
17 2020 Volkswagen ID Crozz
The Volkswagen ID Crozz will arrive on the market by the end of 2019 or early 2020. It will be one of the many all-electric vehicles that Volkswagen has up its sleeve. The Crozz will carry a 302 horsepower electric motor and offer a range of 311 miles on a single full charge. Plenty of semi-autonomous features are also in the offing. But the problem is that it has already been dubbed as a poor man’s BMW X6. Its bizarre look of a sedan sitting on an SUV’s suspension is uninviting. Plus, Volkswagen redid the original Crozz design, painted it differently and unveiled it as the Crozz II Concept in another auto show in the same year. Familiarity, they say, breeds contempt!
16 2019 Chevrolet Blazer
GM is turning cartwheels in a bid to float this all-new 2019 Chevrolet Blazer. The new Blazer will hit the market early 2019 and lacks any newness, so to speak. According to Chevrolet, it will be armed with a standard 3.6-liter V6 gasoline engine across all its variants counting its RS, Premier and all-wheel-drive versions. Though it will feature Chevrolet’s maiden Cargo Management System so that one can customize the cargo space accordingly, this sporty SUV looks startlingly different from its earlier models.
One can personalize the interiors of the upcoming Blazer but the exteriors more or less remain decidedly unchangeable, which is unfortunate.
Unfortunately, that adds to the monotony of its appearance. When you get a new model, you want it to look like a new model, right?
15 2022 Lotus SUV
Lotus Cars seemed to be twiddling their thumbs since 2009 as they haven't introduced a single new model in the market since then. They did spend plenty of time and effort into shelling out facelifts, special editions and re-tuned versions of cars from their existing lineup. Finally in 2017, after Geely, an automotive giant in China, took over the company Lotus confirmed that an SUV is currently underway. This long-mooted SUV will arrive in 2022 and will extensively use Geely-owned Volvo’s underpinnings. But, and that's a big but, the Lotus SUV may be bad news. Firstly, because Lotus is known for its sports cars and not SUVs. Secondly, the all-new product is way different from its existing lineup. And finally, we haven’t seen the production-ready face yet.
14 2019 Chrysler Portal
According to Jalopnik, the Chrysler Portal is everything you hate about millennial stereotypes. Unlike other concepts that never saw the light of the day, The Chrysler Portal may enter production by the end of 2018. Well, it’s both good news and a bad news. Good because the wait will finally be over and bad because it may prove to be a lemon. Also bad because we would have to see it on the road considering there is no accounting for taste.
The Portal appears to be a boxy shell with doors hinged to the sides.
It wears a rounded front and on the back, it has zilch cargo space. This new car will be pegged as an all-electric family car. To make matter worse, it will be Chrysler’s first hatch after a very long time.
13 2019 Jeep Scrambler
The Jeep Scrambler, a Jeep Pickup, has had a long and momentous past. It lived its first life in 1981 for a brief five years and was an out-and-out workhorse. The 2019 Jeep Scrambler is bigger than its older cousin but on a scale of one to ten, it’s definitely a zero in terms of its appearance. Some say that it will look like a new generation Wrangler sitting atop the last generation’s Jeep Wrangler’s frame. Does sound like a recipe for a downright disaster. This new avatar will look rather deformed in comparison to the older pickup that looked like a proper truck. It may be a good off-roader but may become a lemon just for looks alone.
12 2020 Genesis GV80
The Genesis GV80 may hit the road by 2020. This fuel-cell concept SUV should get its inspiration from the Genesis’s enduring V6s and V8s. This will be Genesis’s maiden foray in the SUV marketplace. With no prior real-world experience in SUV segment, even though it is the luxury arm of Hyundai, the GV80 may turn out iffy. With more established names like Mercedes GLS and BMW 5, it may lose the race eventually. Though this hydrogen-fuelled bandwagon is getting crowded thick and fast, it comes with its own limitations – currently one can fuel these geniuses only in California as other states don’t have this infrastructure.
11 2020 Toyota Supra
Toyota comes back the real-wheel-drive sports car scene by rebooting its old Toyota Supra quite similar to what it did with the 86, also known as Scion FR-S, back in 2012. Toyota wanted to relive its tradition of real-wheel-drives that are straight-six powers. Apparently, the new Toyota Supra is touted as a true sports car by its devotees.
But it will basically be an overestimated Toyota 86 with more muscle.
And as its being developed in association with BMW it may attract an additional premium. So the Supra worshippers will be paying more for this extortionate Toyota as it uses BMW underpinnings. Fast and Furious dreams may just go pop...
10 2023 Alfa Romeo Large Crossover
In June 2018 Alfa Romeo announced that the company is going to foray into the large SUV sector by 2023. This SUV would seat seven passengers and that will put them right among the giants in the full-size SUV marketplace. But the fact that it is a carbon copy of its cousin Alfa Romeo Stelvio will go down heavily with the buyers in this segment. Though this large crossover is a bit larger and has a boxier rear end, it resemblance with the Stelvio might prove to be a disaster in a long run. This resized Stelvio is actually going to be one tiny player among the hordes of other popular and unfailing SUVs that have better stuff on their platter.
9 Polestar 1: Launch Date TBA
The Polestar 1 belongs to Volvo Cars and is nothing but a festooned 2013 Volvo Concept Coupe. Ever since Polestar became a stand-alone entity it did it best to expedite the launch of its first creation – the Polestar 1. To its credit, it uses a potent all-electric motor that jets out noteworthy output and performance. But it carries a very steep price tag – about $150,000 so may not find a whole lot of takers. And it is offered with an equally pricey subscription service fee too. There will be plenty of options available in the market by the time it reaches the showrooms which may end up hurting it because of competitive pricing.
8 2019 Lincoln MKC
Another yet-to-be-launched vehicle that is not ready to take risk of enhancing its existing designing. The 2019 Lincoln MKC looks similar to it its outgoing sibling for there is nothing sensational about the next-gen model. It carries a 2.3-liter twin-scrolled turbo inline-four engine under its belly that can deliver up to 285 horsepower and 305 ft-lb of torque.
Rear seats are undersized and not spacious.
Plus, its fuel efficiency is not good enough either. It has below par six-speed transmission and an unresponsive throttle. All these factors put together may fail to move the judges since there is no upbeat innovation at work here.
7 2019 Subaru Forester
The Subaru Forester name has been synonymous with reliability. But there is always room for improvement. Unfortunately, the 2019 Subaru Forester may fail to keep its promise. It doesn’t look refreshing and more of a sibling to the outgoing model. Subaru is known for not taking risks on styling its products but a little design would have gone a long way here. This may disappoint its fans and perhaps this time, Subaru should not have gone so tame considering the younger and hungrier consumers of now. To make matters worse, it doesn’t come with the turbo-petrol or diesel option or any extended warranty either.
6 2019 GMC Acadia
This GMC SUV looks promising and may be worth purchasing but for one thing, and that is it looks ditto like its rival mid-size SUVs. GMC had a chance to make a great first impression but rolled out a tame design, so the Acadia may or may not be a success. We cross our fingers and hope it carries something new and sensational inside the cabin before it loses our attention. The 2019 model year GMC Acadia carries a 2.5-liter four-cylinder SIDI Base unit under the hood to give an output of 193 horsepower and 188 ft-lb worth of torque. If you want more fun then go for 3.6-liter V6 that jets out a massive 310 horsepower and 271 ft-lb of torque. If you don't mind a new car that's a clone of all the existing ones, the engine seems fine.
5 2019 Kia Sorento
The Kia Sorento has been on the market for three generations since 2002 and has made a successful go of it.
Unfortunately, its 2019 facelift doesn’t look more exciting than its previous generation models.
Especially when there has been a decline in the sales of Sorento in the last couple of years, everyone expected a massive facelift. Kia should have added more jewels to the Sorento to draw new buyers and make it a sensation. However, it fits the bill of a buyer with a tight budget since the 2019 Kia Sorento sits with a starting price tag of just $25,990. And you get a choice between a 2.4-liter inline-four gasoline engine and a 3.3-liter gasoline V6 on higher trim levels if you want more fun with the engine.
4 2019 Toyota RAV4
The Toyota RAV4 is into its fifth generation with the launch of 2019 Toyota RAV4. It has met various upgrades and facelifts over the last four generations. The RAV4 has been one of the successful SUVs in the domestic market but its 2019 model year seems a little depressed. While its looks are not a whole lot different from the current model, they seem to have been dampened down a little. It looks boring in terms of its styling, and almost weird from some angles. While it still may give you rock-solid performance, looks really do matter in this car-eat-car world. The RAV4 may have ignited the compact-crossover craze more than two decades ago but it may not sparkle long if it doesn’t satisfy the palate of the new generation of buyers.
3 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe
This 2019 Santa Fe is no different from all its previous model years and carries a relatively lower price tag as compared to its rivals. A starting price of $25,500 may attract a lot of buyers, even if they do regret it later. The 2019 Santa Fe carries a 2.4-liter Gasoline Direct Injection inline-four engine that puts out 185 horsepower and 178 ft-lb of torque. It will be offered in five variants all using the same Hyundai Theta engines. It even features an all-wheel-drive option to fill the bill of a widespread customer base that likes mid-size SUVs in the domestic market. But unfortunately this “all-new” Santa Fe has nothing new to offer to attract new buyers, or even retain the old ones since its just the same old!
2 2019 Volvo XC40
The Volvo XC40 is a premium compact SUV that falls short of its promises. It misses on many essential details that should have been incorporated. The 2019 example looks handsome and in fact, is the right car size for people who would not like to waste the last row every time they travel around the city.
The XC40 fell short in designing two critical driver interfaces that make it a bit of a dud.
Not the kind of technology you want to see in the future. However, the all-wheel-drive may lure the first-timers who find the Volvo tag an attraction.
1 2019 Jeep Cherokee
The Jeep is a true legend in itself and has inveigled the adventure seekers from day one. The Jeep Cherokee is a popular SUV among domestic car buyers since 1974. But the 2019 model year is something that the Jeep fans may lament especially for its characterless turbo mill. Also, it hasn’t got enough space inside the cabin, unlike its rivals. It 2-liter turbo is mated to a laggard nine-speed automatic transmission. According to Jeep, the Cherokee’s 2.0-liter unit can perform better than a V6 because of its huge torque advantage and a shorter final-drive ratio. When floored in the market the Cherokee will carry a price tag $23,995 onwards.