15 new vehicles that moved the needle in 2023
Subjective? You bet. Any list of the most important vehicles introduced this past year is definitely open to debate. This has been a banner year for debuts, including sports cars, trucks, luxury EVs, and more. If we got it wrong, there’s a comments section down at the bottom where you can set us straight. Here are 15 vehicles we think moved the needle in 2023, or will soon in 2024. They are organized alphabetically, rather than ranked in any particular order. By the way, if you think we’re leaving out vehicles such as the new BMW M2, Toyota GR Corolla, Kia EV6 and the Toyota Prius, we covered them in our 2022 list. Click here for a refresher.
Acura Integra Type S: What do you know, there’s life at Acura after all. Based on the Honda Civic Type R, Acura injects 320 horsepower into the Integra’s engine bay, gives it an active-damping suspension, and an appropriate interior. Yes, it’s well over $50,000, but probably worth it. Check out our review here.
Buick Envista: This hatchback-looking sedan is perhaps the biggest surprise of the year. Yes, it’s built on the same platform as the Chevrolet Trax and is powered by a modest three-cylinder engine, but the designers and engineers who worked on the Envista did a remarkable job of creating a handsome, fun-to-drive car that should bring some younger buyers to the brand while satisfying current Buick customers who don’t want an SUV—and yes, stunningly, those people do exist. Nicely done, Buick. Read our review here.
Chevrolet Blazer EV: This was a good year for SUVs, and the fact that the Chevrolet Blazer EV won Motor Trend magazine’s SUV of the Year award speaks well to what Chevy has done to the previously vanilla Blazer. Based on the Ultium platform, the Blazer EV will soon be available with an SS package that makes 557 horsepower for those not content with the 288 horses powering the AWD dual-motor RS. Handsome on the outside, and functional on the inside, the Blazer EV is a solid step forward. Here’s our review.
Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray: The first production all-wheel-drive Corvette did not disappoint, and even traditional Corvette loyalists can’t help but read the performance figures of the hybrid and marvel at the fact that it challenges the mighty Z06 model. Here’s our review of the E-Ray.
Dodge “Last Call” Challengers and Chargers: While the Chevrolet Camaro went out this year with a whimper, the Challenger and the Charger went out with a bang, thanks to a series of “Last Call” special editions that showcased the Hemi V-8, marketed as your last chance to get a true, proven performance car (at least until the electric Dodges come out). Here’s our take on the Dodge Charger Super Bee.
Ferrari Purosangue: With a 715-horsepower naturally-aspirated V-12 under the hood, Ferrari’s inevitable SUV and first-ever four-door has the proper look and feel of a Ferrari, and has a very Ferrari-like $400,000 price tag. Here’s our review of the Purosangue, which is Italian for thoroughbred.
Ford Mustang Dark Horse: Yes, we covered the 2024 Ford Mustang in this list last year, but we hadn’t had a chance to drive the lineup yet. We have now, and they are all worthy of the Mustang name, but there’s something about the 500-horsepower (it feels like more) Dark Horse model that deserves a shoutout here. We’ve lost the Dodge Challenger and the Chevrolet Camaro, making the Mustang Dark Horse the last of the pure-ICE-engine breed. Check out our review here.
Kia EV9: Sit in the EV9 and look around, and you can tell the designers spent a long time making it modern inside, but still familiar enough that someone who has never driven an electric vehicle before will feel immediately comfortable. Our test car was roomy enough for six adults—middle-seat passengers are catered to with a pair of very comfortable captain’s chairs—while rear-seat passengers have ample leg room. It drives well, has decent horsepower (up to 379), and corners with competence. An electric SUV with very few flaws.
Lucid Gravity/Air Sapphire: Lucid operates on the principle that if you build it, they will come. “They” of course meaning customers, who are thus far taking their time discovering the brand. Too bad. Lucid introduced two new electric models: The Gravity SUV, available with up to 800 horsepower, should start at about $80,000, with upscale models that will be priced way into six figures. And there’s the 1234-horsepower Air Sapphire, which starts at over $250,000. We’ve liked every Lucid we’ve driven—check out our review of the Sapphire—and we’re looking forward to the Gravity.
Mercedes-AMG S 63 E Performance: What’s not to like about the most powerful S-Class ever? It retains all the ultra-luxury features you expect, and the hybrid powertrain pumps out a combined 791 horsepower and 1055 lb-ft of torque, delivered to all four wheels. Our test vehicle was priced at an estimated $240,000. Read the review here.
Tesla Cybertruck: The most talked-about vehicle of 2023, the Cybertruck is an absolute love-it-or-hate-it vehicle, and certainly the top candidate to become a complete flop or a major hit. Hagerty.com was among the first to get a test drive of the Cybertruck: Click here for our video review.
Toyota Land Cruiser: Maybe it isn’t the vehicle that dedicated Land Cruiser fans were hoping for, but it’s still worthy of the name. Powered by a 326-horsepower hybrid powertrain made up of a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine and a single electric motor, it will at least be cheaper than the last Cruiser, a 2021 model, which cost about $87,000. Toyota says the new Land Cruiser will start in the mid-$50,000 range.
Toyota Tacoma: Toyota finally replaced its ancient Tacoma with a thoroughly modern if somewhat pricey pickup this year, and so far it seems to be a big success. The Tacoma has long been the gold standard of smaller pickups, routinely the benchmark that other manufacturers weigh their own products against. Toyota will send some of them back to the drawing boards with this new version. Read more about the Tacoma here.
VinFast VF8: Yes, of course, the VinFast VF8 and the other VinFast SUVs were the worst-reviewed vehicles of 2024, with the consensus being that they simply aren’t ready for America. But you have to tip your hat to the bombastic way the seven-year-old Vietnamese company entered the U.S. market, with a surprisingly wide selection of electric models (possibly adding a $20,000 electric SUV to its lineup), plans to build a $2 billion plant in North Carolina, and stock that’s already trading on Nasdaq (and not doing all that bad). Is VinFast’s vehicle lineup why they made the list? No. But this is: You can bet there are a lot of Chinese companies that would love to come to the U.S., and they are watching this VinFast experiment very closely.
Volvo EX30: With a base price of $36,245, including shipping, Volvo’s small electric SUV checks a lot of boxes. It’s pretty, comfortable, quick (268 horsepower for the single-motor base model, 422 for the twin-motor version), and has the advantage of being a premium-branded product. Deliveries have been delayed a bit, so don’t expect to see an EX30 until late spring or summer of 2024. When it finally does show up, the little car could make some big noise. Read our review here.
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A Mustang, A Challenger, a Corvette and a few trucks! The rest of the worst are boxes on wheels, nothing to even look at. Choices such as these will drive today’s youth to ride bicycles! Who could ever have seen the demise of the automobile fall at the hands of lazy designers who lost all motivation? American drivers proved their lack of interest in exciting vehicles when the mini-van first appeared. Now, they have deserted driving all together with the rolling box. Be careful what you ask for………..you have to live with it!
Of course David that we are all to assume that you know better than all of the designers and marketing experts from all of these companies put together. Seems like a big ask to take your comment seriously.
David, I couldn’t agree with more! Our automotive future looks very bleak except for the above mentioned bright spots.
Agreed our automotive future looks bleak, but then again our future looks bleak, period…..
FeelsBadMan
Please stop marketing all this “Electric progress”
Many readers are uninterested despite how much you push these products.
As if you are being compensated.
No matter how technically advanced, or supposed environmental all this is..
It does not, nor will not EVER appeal to a ANY true gear head or third peddle guy.
Burn gas to haul Ass. Period.
Very obvious that these people are out to “push on us” electric vehicles that have little use other than short jaunts around town. They are trying to create (through advertising) demand for product for which the US has neither the required infrastructure nor the desire to deal with (let’s not get started on what it costs to produce that “polutionless” electricity and the battery components mined and made in China.
Very true…. They’re trying to fabricate a market that isn’t there. These are not environmentally friendly. They require loads and loads of fossil fuel to make that electricity and our country’s electrical grid will leave us stranded and unable to use our “polutionless” vehicles
Yeah, I expect this out of motortrend, but how many EVs does Hagerty’s insure? Okay, maybe a battery car from 1900, but all of these new ones are insured through a big, generic agency. Really a microcosm of the whole thing; out of touch with the target audience.
The market has always contained a mix of boring and excellent products. You all focus on the negative. Focus on the positive and you’ll feel better. Your focus determines your reality. Live changes and you can’t predict how it will affect you so look for the bright spots.
Biggest farce of recent years is Ford badging an electric rolling box “Mustang.” What were they thinking?
There is no M U S T A N G badge or emblem on the Mach E. It doesn’t say “Mustang” any place on the car.
Just remember gentle readers, “move the needle ” doesn’t imply the needle moved more than a tiny bit,or which direction it moved. 😁
I agree total buying a new car is all just a commodity. I want to look back after I park and see style. Not a eggplant shaped spaceship.
Folks need to think twice on this EV. Chevrolet has officially issued a stop-sale for the 2024 Blazer EV and will be rolling out a major software update to fix problems.
That “Camaro-Stang” is uglier then 10 days of rain. It appears to have been designed by a committee of kindergarten kids with crayons.
The appearance of beauty is subjective. The difference between “then” and “than” is not.
I will be laughing myself to sleep over this comment. Thank you Sir!
It negates the witty comment about the “10 days of rain” when you mis-use then in the place of than.
I read this, hoping I would find a car that interests me. But really, time has just passed me by. I don’t like electric cars, and that is simply ALL manufacturers make any more.
While there is definitely a place for electric vehicles, the relentless push is simply too much. The huge push for electrics is not driven by demand. It is forced, misguided and unsustainable because not enough buyer want them, there are not enough mines or resources to build them all, nor charging stations worldwide to keep them going, nor enough coal or nuclear power plants to power them all.
As a youth I loved looking forward to each new model year to see what new was coming out. No more. I get more of a thrill reading Consumer Reports about toaster ovens.
Yes Paul, I completely agree, good summation.
Extremity well put. On the money. Thank you for posting what NEEDS to understood.
Better take an English and spelling refresher course if you are going to keep replying online Rick 🙂
Thats called age Paul 🙂
Ha ha! Perhaps. I suspect you are commiserating, not criticizing.
But age is what allowed me to experience great vehicles that made real noise – not generated fake noise, as deemed just right by test market surveys. Great cars required human interaction because they were incapable of driving themselves. There was joy in controlling a car, not elation that I can scroll through TikTok vids while my “car” drives me somewhere and then parks itself. Age allowed me to know I would rather tell my car what to do than have it dictate what I must do (or even have someone ELSE tell it what to do.) I’d rather think that I have a preference for freedom. People these days usually choose convenience over freedom or privacy. Oops… I gotta run now. Alexa is telling me it is time for my nap.
This is so well put. Some pretty ugly cars are fun to drive, just because of driver engagement. And cars taking control of the steering wheel so that I cannot change lanes is just ruining driver competence these days.
Oh no now alexa wants me to wash the dishes !!
What cars are you talking about with the steering control? Year make model specific please. I want to know what to avoid in the market.
Other than exotics I’ll never be able to afford, like 911s and Lamborghinis with ICE power, the last true car I liked was the late Buick wagon from the Oughts. I’d still love to have one, but I’ll stick with my ’04 GTO and ’04 Tahoe. Oh, I liked the Stinger, and K5, but not enough to spring for seven years of payments. As a kid, I could identify everything on wheels with a glimpse of taillights or a profile. And I looked forward to the fall new cars as much as Christmas. No more, I’m sorry to say. No more.😢
exciting toaster oven articles aside (btw, i love the analogy), i bought new a ’22 challenger scat pack and then a ’23 soob impreza – both with mt’s. and this impreza is possibly 1 of the last 5 built & sold in the us with a manual. hey, it’s all about personal opinion and taste, right? this aside, do any of these ’15 new vehicles’ come available with a m/t? integra maybe?? doesn’t matter since i’m simply not interested in any of them
Chevy EV Blazer, really. Worst ever launched vehicle. All recalled. 2 magazines had them and over 20 issues on first drive. Dealers couldn’t fix. GM stopped all sales of them.
Does a rotten apple spoil the bunch? Sadly this list has a lot more rotten apples than good ones.
The only thing more rotten is the brains of all these commenters. Heaven forbid anyone like or enjoy something different than them.
Where’s the like button? 🙂 I sure hope I’m not this crabby when I get to be their ages! 😁
✅ The closest I can find. (And I’m likely their age.)
Can’t wait! Got my bags of marshmallows ready for the fireworks to start. This world is nowhere ready for all these electric cars that’s being shoved upon us nor is the environment.
EV’s don’t belong. You all keep pushing but everything about them smells of oil.
Maybe when you can get a 10 minute full charge as conveniently as you can with gas and not throw the infrastructure breaker…. no go.
Yep. When so many states have brown outs and rolling blackouts just due to air con use…how are these cars- which suck much power than just air con- going to be charged?
Am sure some fanboy will chirp in- just put up solar panels,bro
Until the brown outs start I will be charging my Tesla Y at my own house with solar and keep wondering why people who have not even tried these cars are so against them. I just drove from San Francisco Bay area to LA with 1 charge stop on the road. It took as long to charge as it took for me to order and eat my In and Out lunch and then I absolutely flew up the Grapevine grade without any altitude loss of power and basically unlimited passing ability. In daily local use I charge at home and do not even know how much gas costs anymore. Where is the victim here? People who oppose EVs do not have the Tesla charging network or are simply ignorant of how this really works in day to day life.
So glad you’re enjoying the Tesla. I also hope that you realize that when it’s time for any EV motor repair ( yes they do break ) or a new battery, the cost will be over 1/3rd of what you paid for the new car. As far as trading it in on a new one, good luck. From what I’ve been hearing, there are dealers that would be willing to take it off your hand for about 15 to 25% of its cost. Try and think what happens if you need some type of service between Van Horn, Texas and say Silver City, New Mexico. I guess the Cartels might be will to relive you of it.
A list of duds? The majority of these aren’t cars that car enthusiasts had on their radar. I gave this article a glance, because it was not worth a read. Where are the Vettes? A91-MT Supra?
About as exciting as an electric toothbrush.
So boring that I’d rather be in a coma!
The majority of these aren’t cars that car enthusiasts had on their radar. I gave this article a glance, because it was not worth a read. Where are the Vettes or the A91-MT Supra?
2023 Ford Raptor R not on the list? List is bogus
Oh my the sky is falling EVs are coming or a failure . Think again & get used to it they are here to stay. The sales figures show evs taking 18% of the market. I say live & let live , you want to drive an appliance as most people do , then more for us. The Dodge scam of last call & going total EV is already proven false as the new Charger(or whatever its called) is seen on the assembly line with the twin turbo 6 . The only people who like change are babies with wet diapers stop the crying & change the channel
Give it up on the EV’s your are a radical activist!
The demise of the enthusiast vehicle market is in full swing now, unless you are wealthy…it’s a shame that today’s youth will never get a chance to experience what driving vehicles with distinct personalities was like. Not that many of today’s younger generation are auto enthusiasts anyway…but with the soul-less, sterile and mostly bland offerings of today, who can blame them?
Most of today’s younger people are much more tech focused than the gearheads of yesteryear. The majority of complaints and negative comments seem to be offered up by the older generation that appreciates the accomplishments of the past cars, but are uninterested in looking forward to what the future cars will bring to the mix. Let’s not forget the flops of the past, people. There are PLENTY of examples. Everything has a beginning. It was rocky in the beginning of the ICE era with many naysayers responding the same way as these old school thinking folks. The car with the most tech wins in today’s market and that is what ALL of the car manufacturers are racing to the finish line to achieve. Most young drivers don’t know or even care about how cars used to be. It’s more about “where’s the wireless phone charger, Apple Car play, cooled vegan leather seats, power everything, sunroof, environmentally friendly emissions, etc. They don’t want to wrench on a car to tune it up. More white collar young people have no time or interest in this. Old school is/was good. However, if you are not willing to be open minded about the future, you will be eternally disappointed.
You are absolutely correct, and I’ll be the first to admit I am heavily biased towards the way things once were. I was a lifelong automotive professional on the Service and Parts side of mostly luxury/performance marque dealerships, retiring at the beginning of this year. I realized about ten years ago that the industry was facing a paradigm shift that I was neither excited about nor wanted to be a part of. The industry will live on, and the enthusiast market will return in some form or fashion. The period we are in right now reminds me much of the “Malaise Era,” of the mid-70’s-early 80’s, which the OEMs eventually found their way out of. Right now however, it is the “affordable” end of the spectrum that is being affected the most with lack of exciting and unique offerings.
Actually, I’ll take the future prediction a bit further…most folks including these kids parents are in such a hurry to do everything, that they would be able to take the time to enjoy the connection between man and machine. If they could beam themselves to where they want to go…they’d take that option. Vehicles are just four-wheeled conveyances today…nothing more.
You are spot on, Mark B – as are the manufacturers! As an industry professional for almost four decades, I witnessed the automotive industry move from brand oriented to commodity oriented. As the years went by, the corporate OEM people I dealt with became less automotive focused and increasingly market share/metrics focused. They might as well have been representing refrigerators rather than automobiles…its just a widget to most of them!
A lot of truth there.
Where are the technicians to fix all of this technology going to come from? Considering the cost of the new cars with all of this technology, more people are forced to keep their old cars much longer, which is contributing to the higher cost of used vehicles. Has anyone asked what happened to reasonably sized trucks? There must be a market for a reasonably sized, affordable truck without all of the gadgets that add cost and will cost more to repair in the future…and how about a simple car or SUV that doesn’t require a 7 or 10 year loan? With all of the changes the world is experiencing, the young people of today don’t understand the dark road they are heading down.
If we don’t get off the need for fosil fuels the youth won’t be able to experience life, much less driving.
Oh, please
Road transportation- cars and big trucks makes up ~20% of all CO2 emissions. Personal transport makes up 45% of that, so only 9% of all CO2 comes from cars.
Mandating EVs will in most places save 40% on CO2 emissions but only after driving them 50-60k miles.
So you’re telling us that dropping CO2 from cars from 9% to 6 or 7% but only after 50k miles-while the Chinese are building 3 massive coal fired generating stations per week- will do anything?
Jumping in the sack with Biden?
yeah just ask Al Gore
That is all bs. Can’t even build a ev without fossil fuels. Never mind charge it
I completely agree.
My first car was a 1988 integra, loved it. I recently purchased its twin and its sitting on jack stands being brought to life. You don’t need 200+hp to have a fun car with personality, this horsepower war taking place is actually killing driving.
The manufacturer that starts making light, fun to drive, inexpensive cars with peppy quick revving engines and watch the kids flock to your dealerships. Today’s youths want cars, they still do, no body is making the car for them anymore.
Oh, and give it a manual.
I think you are wrong about youth wanting such cars. Case in point, subaru brz/toyota gr86. They are simple, affordable sports cars with a manual. And they sell fewer than 20k a year combined.
That’s a money problem, not a car problem.
Going to school with inflation lately and increased food and housing expenses, then paying off those debts curtails younger people from buying cars they like
You are totally correct! About 1 ton car,5-6 speed, 150ish horsepower and get 35-40mpg. Totally fun