These are the most eagerly awaited cars of 2020. Petrol, hybrid or electric: the automotive stars of next year!

We pick the cars that aspire to be, and will become, the best cars of 2020

We close out 2019 with a good bag of models that are either still to be confirmed or still to reach the market. On the one hand, there are cars we know will be unveiled, and others that will start arriving at dealerships.

In the end, these are the most anticipated cars, the most desired vehicles, the best cars of 2020, at least as far as our expectations go.

The most desirable SUVs of 2020

So we start with today’s reigning category, the SUV. The best SUVs of 2019 are waiting to be replaced, updated or dethroned by those of 2020.

There will be some brand-new SUVs, such as the new Mazda MX-30, Mazda’s first electric car, which, as could hardly be otherwise, will wear the fashionable outfit of a crossover body.

And if the Mazda MX-30 could be one of the best cars of 2020, we have no doubt that the Seat Tarraco PHEV arrives on the market aiming to be the best seller among 7-seat plug-in hybrid SUVs, a battleground where another rookie, though only a newcomer in Europe, since it has been sold in the USA for 29 years, the Ford Explorer Plug-In Hybrid, will also go on sale in 2020.

Nor do we doubt that the 100 per cent electric versions of the 2018 Car of the Year, the Volvo XC40, and of one of our favourite crossovers of the moment, the Lexus UX 250h, will be automotive stars in 2020.

We are less certain about several of the new arrivals. For one, the Aston Martin DBX, the British brand’s first crossover, claims to be a full-blooded Aston Martin while also being a fashionable vehicle, as the canons dictate. We shall see.

For another, we can’t deny we are curious to see how electrification will suit the pair of plug-in hybrid siblings from Jeep, the Renegade and Compass PHEV. That is why they will also be in the spotlight in 2020.

The market doesn’t live on SUVs alone

And when it comes to compact vehicles, the benchmark compact in Spain, with all due respect to the eighth-generation Volkswagen Golf, which, incidentally, will also land at dealerships in 2020, the latest-generation Seat León, will make its appearance during the first months of next year.

And if the Seat León is the best-selling car of 2019, and its replacement therefore has a difficult job to live up to, the Seat el-Born, Seat’s next electric car after the Seat Mii Electric, has the responsibility of being the all-new car that popularises electric mobility on our streets.

And when it comes to small cars with thrills in abundance, nobody beats the Mini John Cooper Works GP. A small-sized missile, taken straight off the circuit and registered for the road so you can pop out for bread in it after an intense track day.

And, staying with high-performance cars, the Ferrari SF90 Stradale is one of the most interesting new arrivals and will undoubtedly end up being one of the best cars of 2020.

A car that will have to step aside when the other Aston Martin in this article, at the opposite pole to the DBX, the Valhalla, begins to be delivered, one by one, of the 500 units to be built, or the other “One”, this time from Mercedes and AMG, the Mercedes-AMG One, does the same.

That is, provided Christian von Koenigsegg allows it and doesn’t put the car that bears his father’s name in his honour, the Jesko, at the top of the world first.

Cars for real life

But besides the thrills, mere mortals need cars for their daily chores, and the new offerings in a segment like saloons need reasons in the form of new cars to show that they are not dead, that they are just waiting for their moment to return.

That is why, with offerings as varied as the electric Audi GT e-tron, the also electric but hydrogen fuel-cell Toyota Mirai, the new Kia Optima, or the Skoda Superb, which, together with its Combi version and its PHEV variant, is one of the best family cars with an ECO label on the market, they will liven up a segment that has fallen on hard times and needs to regain its importance in the market.

Those who will have no trouble expanding like polyurethane foam will be the Opel Corsa-e, Peugeot e-208, Renault Clio E-Tech… leaders that others, such as the Mazda2 or the Honda Jazz, look at with admiration and envy when, month after month, we publish the list of the best-selling cars.