10 Cars To Look Forward To In 2024

Although we’re seemingly in the twilight years of the combustion engine, there’s still a healthy supply of exciting and/or interesting cars on the way in 2024 powered by a bit of suck, squeeze, bang and blow. At the same time, there are plenty of vehicles partly or fully powered by electricity on the way that are piquing our interest too.

The following are the cars we’re most looking forward to in 2024, including cars we’ve not seen at all, to metal that’s already been revealed but yet to be launched to the press and the punters.

Which excites you the most?

Ferrari hypercar

We’re going to have to put in a bit of guesswork here, as there’s little concrete information about Ferrari’s LaFerrari successor. We think it’ll arrive late in 2024, and we think it could use a V6 engine, the starting point of which would likely be the powerplant of the 296 GTB. 

The only thing we can know for sure is that it’ll be breathtakingly fast and enormously expensive. We can’t wait to see the Fiorano lap time.

Ford Mustang

The new ‘Stang has long since been revealed and launched, but we in the UK haven’t been able to have a go just yet. The first right-hand drive examples were supposed to be landing at the tail end of 2023, but we’re now looking at early 2024.

From what ‘Murican journalists have said about the car, it sounds like the Ford Mustang has taken another step forward to being a proper sports car, yet still retaining everything we love about the model. It’s likely to be the last combustion-powered Mustang, and from the sounds of it, a fitting send-off.

Porsche Panamera

The Panamera is now in its third generation. No, really! It might look barely different from the outgoing model, but Porsche insists this is the Mk3. It’s laden with tech, featuring a dashboard full of screens, and there’s a Turbo E-Hybrid version that’s good for nearly 700bhp.

The old Panamera was a fine thing to drive, too, and a noticeably more satisfying steer than other VW Group products using the same underpinnings. The new one should take a further step in that regard, with Porsche bigwigs promising something that drives as well as a 911. We’ll be the judge of that.

Lamborghini Huracan replacement

We’re feeling a mix of excitement and trepidation over the Huracan’s replacement. A recent video as good as confirmed that the car will eschew a naturally aspirated V10 for a V8, quite probably one that’s turbocharged and hybridised. But come on, it’s a Lamborghini - whatever the form of propulsion, it’ll be pleasingly silly and hopefully very good to drive.

Toyota Prius

Yes, really. Once the butt of many a joke told by petrolheads, it feels like the Prius’ time is now. It’s a car that’s truly interested in being economical, nicely contrasting those 2.5-tonne plug-in hybrid SUVs carting around large battery packs that have the fuel consumption of an Airbus A380 once the electrical juice runs out.

And yet, the latest Prius, which at last looks half decent, was initially denied for UK buyers. The reasoning was that Toyota has plenty of other hybrid options from ‘regular’ offerings like the Yaris and C-HR, but thankfully the company has seen the light, and we’ll be belatedly getting the car in 2024.

BMW M4 CS

The M3 CS was one of our most pleasant surprises of 2023. Yes, it’s heinously expensive and has been subject to tokenistic weight reduction that does little to stop us from classifying it as a fatty, but drive it on the right road, and it all makes sense.

Package all that up into the coupe body of the M4, and it’ll work out nicely. The presence of an all-wheel drive system will differentiate it well from the M4 CSL, and yet, it’ll still be noticeably sharper than the standard M4 Competition, if the M3 CS is anything to go buy.

BMW M5 Touring

It’s hard not to be excited by the first M5 Touring in the best part of 20 years, and for the fast wagon’s debut to completely overshadow that of the all-new M5 saloon in our eyes. BMW confirmed the model’s existence last summer, and we were quite happy to board the hype train.

We should temper our enthusiasm slightly, though. While it’ll still have a V8, the engine will be electrically assisted via a plug-in hybrid system, and that’s going to make for an extremely heavy car. That said, if anyone can make a good fist at hiding the mass, it’s BMW M. Expect it to arrive in summer 2024.

Toyota GR Yaris facelift

Rumour has it that the GR Yaris is getting the GR Corolla spec version of Toyota’s boisterous little 1.6-litre inline-three, which should yield an output of 296bhp. There’s also talk of the car adopting Toyota’s weird automatic that shifts like a manual - we hope as an option, rather than your only choice.

Renault 5

The deluge of premium electric SUVs has gotten really rather boring. Thankfully, though, Renault is cutting through the noise with the new 5, which will be small(ish), light(ish) and actually quite affordable. Judging by comments from Renault execs, it should start at around £25,000, which in EV terms is a bargain, especially for something that brings with it a whole load of retro chic. It’s expected to be revealed at the Geneva Motor Show in late February.

Dacia Duster

We’ll get our first chance to drive the new Dacia Duster in 2024, and we’ve high hopes for it. The affordable compact SUV sits on a snazzy new Renault platform, and as we experienced from having a poke around at a preview event in 2023, the quality and premium feel have been noticeably taken up a notch.

But it still won’t cost the earth, with the cheapest Duster coming in at under €20,000 in Europe. We’ll have ours in Extreme trim with the optional expedition-spec roof rack, please.