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Hooniverse Asks: What do you want to see happen in the automotive space in 2020?

Jeff Glucker

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Time flies, right? Even though 2010 was the year we were supposed to make contact, we’ve blitzed right past that and we’re essentially into 2020 now. A lot has changed in the past ten years, especially in the automotive space. The first Nissan Leaf was introduced back in 2010. It had a range of 73 miles and a motor making 110 horsepower. Now we have the long-range version of the Tesla Model S, which can go 370 miles between charges.

On the gas-burning side, we had the arrival of the Challenger Hellcat in 2015. That was followed by a Charger Hellcat, Jeep TrackHawk, and eventually we arrived at the Red Line and Demon versions. You can buy a Dodge that will rip past 200 mph and boasts what I assume is an actual metric fuckton of horsepower.

Ford launched its first-generation Raptor for the 2010 model year. What started with a V8 has wound up with a twin-turbocharged V6, and it’s actually better with the smaller engine. Sure, the sound isn’t as good, but the truck is definitely a better vehicle with less cylinders and displacement. And it’s suspension is smart enough to adjust damping at lightspeed so you’re properly setup for bumps, dips, curbs, Civics, and hang time.

All of that is a fun peek at what the past decade as brought to us. But that’s next? What do you want to see happen in 2020 and beyond? Right out of the gate, I’m eager to see Rivian bring a production-ready model to market. I’m curious to see how the C8 Corvette evolves with its more powerful and focused models. And I want to see how the market reacts to Ford’s electric Mustang crossover.

How about you?

About

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Hooniverse.com. He’s often seen getting passed as he hustles a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero up the 405 Freeway. IG: @HooniverseJeff

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44 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: What do you want to see happen in the automotive space in 2020?”

  1. Number_Six Avatar
    Number_Six

    I’m genuinely perplexed by the proliferation of mega-powered high-performance premium ICE vehicles over development of slightly-mega-powered more-or-less-high-performance cars that are also really efficient.

    From my ignorant outsider’s perspective, it’s almost like the engineers behind ICE products are deliberately torpedoing ICE by virtue of their focus on performance figures instead of efficiency. Like, how does a 600HP/5,000lb Mercedes SUV make any sense to any sentient being at this juncture? Why can I get a 300HP/4,000lb SUV from Honda but not a joyful and frugal CR-Z that doesn’t suck?

    We all wax nostalgic about the long-dead Honda CRX, a legit driver’s car that was also incredibly fuel-efficient, but there is almost nothing on the market today that’s analogous to any of the nimble late-80s warm-hatchbacks. There isn’t even a slight movement in that direction, FFS. Instead, we’ve leapt right into a new paradigm where incredibly inefficient and fast electric cars are being shoved in our faces, with ZERO evidence that electrics are the way forward (especially when lithium is the new blood diamond).

    What the living hell is going on in the automotive space and have we all lost our damn minds? In 2020 I want some car makers to use their friggin brains and show us something that makes sense for average people.

    Reply
  2. danleym Avatar
    danleym

    Manuals in everything! Yeah, yeah, not gonna happen, but it would be nice.

    Anyone know why no one makes a diesel electric hybrid car? Seems like a good ticket to really good economy, taking two systems that return better economy and putting them together.

    Reply
  3. Victor~~ Avatar
    Victor~~

    More cars in space !

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0eda4d957197c9b9e07a3baad879689e8dabfcec6ee4ec6b6e563427a4c3f877.jpg

    Reply
    1. crank_case Avatar
      crank_case

      That’s just intergalactic fly tipping.

      Reply
  4. GTXcellent Avatar
    GTXcellent

    https://images-wildhorses4x4-com.s3.amazonaws.com/pio-resized/601/9329.jpg

    Reply
  5. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    There’s no hope of it for the US market, but considering enough Canadians bought the MkVII Golf Wagon, I’d appreciate them gifting us the MkVIII. I don’t anticipate anything else worthwhile that I could reasonably obtain, so no point in getting my hopes up.

    Reply
  6. Fuhrman16 Avatar
    Fuhrman16

    I agree completely. The 2010’s started out all right, with nearly every auto maker producing good, small cars. There was the Fiesta and Focus, Mazda’s 2, Fiat 500, The second gen Honda Fir and Mini, Chevy Spark, etc. But now most of these are dead. I would like to see these types of cars return. Not everyone has 30+ grand to drop on a new car.

    Reply
  7. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    Mazda2 wearing Yaris badges? People seem to like the 2nd gen Veloster (although I suspect any accolades are only deserved by the N).

    Of course, I think the sales numbers of the ToyoBaru sort of sum up the problem – average people don’t seem to want much besides crossovers and full-sized pickups, and the luxury market seems to be dominated by consumption so conspicuous you could see it from Elon’s intergalactic Roadster.

    Reply
    1. Maymar Avatar
      Maymar

      Fair – addendum to my point – regulations also favour crossovers and trucks, so there’s not a ton of incentive for OEMs to build something affordable and fun (see the pithy Porsche retort about how their entry-level model is pre-owned).

      Reply
  8. danleym Avatar
    danleym

    Manuals in everything! Yeah, yeah, not gonna happen, but it would be nice.

    Anyone know why no one makes a diesel electric hybrid car? Seems like a good ticket to really good economy, taking two systems that return better economy and putting them together.

    Reply
    1. crank_case Avatar
      crank_case

      Peugeot will have one I believe, but I think weaselgate has ruined any chance of a diesel hybrid in the US.

      Reply
  9. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
    SlowJoeCrow

    I want to see more station wagons and a $20,000 compact truck, instead of a $40,000 one. Also I want to see Mazda sell lots of Mazda3’s to prove the market isn’t totally stupid.

    Reply
    1. kogashiwa Avatar
      kogashiwa

      A compact truck that wasn’t 97% the size of a full-size truck would be nice.

      Reply
    2. Smaglik Avatar
      Smaglik

      I’ll second the wagons comment. After taking a 2000 mile road trip in my wagon, it is incredibly convenient and fun. It would be good to be able to buy something new in that genre…or at least a bit more choice than a Buick or a Volvo.

      Reply
      1. Vairship Avatar
        Vairship

        The Buick option will die in the US in 2020, so your options are Volvo or Subaru. I think.

        Reply
        1. Smaglik Avatar
          Smaglik

          Subaru doesn’t count, in my opinion. I don’t want a lifted one.

          Reply
  10. ghosty Avatar
    ghosty

    I’ve got two things that come to mind.

    The first is a rebirth of the horsepower wars for muscle cars but for electric vehicles. Nothing breeds technological advancement like competition. I’m not old enough to have been alive for the original horsepower wars and I am VERY excited at the prospect of being alive for the next generation of such an event.It’d be sweet to bring back old names as well, like Chevelle and Fairlane. I mean Fairlane Thunderbolt!? That’s just asking to be reborn as an all-electric drag-focused car.

    The second is more electric motorcycles. If electric really is the ‘efficient’ way forward, why not focus on the vehicles that already get better gas mileage than cars and trucks? Admittedly, I’ve only ever ridden a bike once and that was in a parking lot. But I’m still planning on learning, and I’d love to rock an electric cruiser.

    Reply
  11. wunno sev Avatar
    wunno sev

    I’ll dispute one point: there’s tons of evidence that electrics are the way forward. they’re more efficient, including the entire cradle-to-grave cycle, at a time when we seem to agree collectively that global warming is a huge problem. (for the sake of argument, let’s take that as a given instead of debating it.) there’s tons of data out there supporting this. other claims are FUD mostly spread for political and, because there’s little distinction now, social reasons.

    a nice thing about electrics is that, unlike ICEs which need to be tuned for efficiency under specific conditions, even the voraciously fast electrics can be efficient when driven slowly. the closest we get to that with ICEs is small turbo motors, and they come with their own drawbacks.

    sure, electrics introduce new problems, but don’t settle for devil-you-know fallacies. if anthropogenic climate change is our biggest environmental crisis, electrics can make a big impact.

    Reply
    1. crank_case Avatar
      crank_case

      True to a point, but so could re-thinking our entire approach to urban planning and car use. A hot rod in the garage for weekends is better than a 3 hour commute by Tesla every single day.

      Reply
    2. wunno sev Avatar
      wunno sev

      like I said, they do introduce their own problems, but I don’t think they’re insurmountable. energy density isn’t proving itself a deal breaker for today’s electrics, emergency personnel aren’t being killed en masse, the cloud of smoke is still more efficient than burning dino juice in every vehicle on the road, and there’s starting to be Teslas with 200k and they’re doing ok.

      of course electrics aren’t a panacea. i can’t pretend every issue you raise is a solved problem, but can you imagine the logistical challenge of, like, building the current gasoline infrastructure we have today? can you imagine the insane number of development dollars that have gone into refining the ICE to where it is today? those issues were way more complex, imo, than what you’re describing. the state of automobilia today would be completely unimaginable to a person from 1901. these problems get solved with demand, time, and effort.

      Reply
      1. crank_case Avatar
        crank_case

        It’s indeed true about Gasoline infrastructure, it’s blood fuel. Far more people are routinely killed in the extraction of oil than in nuclear energy. Petroleum use has to stop – period. The only sustainable future I see for the ICE is biofuel or synthetic fuel (possibly created by extraction of carbon from the atmosphere to create hydrocarbons that are atomically similar to petroleum derived fuel), but that will be unlikely to sustainably meet all transport fuel needs, so that’s where electric comes in, which allows you to leverage renewables and other sources of energy rather than purely fossil fuels for transport.

        Biofuel is controversial, but it’s stock doesn’t have to come from food sources like corn, it can come from dairy waste for example, which in turn lowers the impact of that industry.

        My only issue the with the current greenwash on electric, specifically in Europe is the notion that EVs are the only future, to me, a majority of EVs with a sizeable number of ICE cars, mostly small simple ones, makes some sense.

        The other thing I’ve hinted at is holistically, it’s not enough to just swap all the ICEs for EVs, it’s still too much energy use. Commuting to work by car, especially long commutes – just pointless aggravating gridlock driving, needs to no longer be the norm. Once you know where people live and they work, there’s no reason you can’t just make it easy to leave the car at home with enough investment in public transport and proper planning. One of the big causes of long commutes is this global property/asset bubble, where living inside cities gets so expensive, people can’t afford to actually live IN them anymore. You have to address stuff like adequate, socially affordable housing, so the people needed to make a city work can actually live in it. Road haulage needs to be moved to rail as much as possible.

        It’s like a twisty turny multifaceted rubiks cube of a problem, except you can’t cheat by moving all the stickers.

        Reply
      2. crank_case Avatar
        crank_case

        It’s indeed true about Gasoline infrastructure, it’s blood fuel. Far more people are routinely killed in the extraction of oil than in nuclear energy. Petroleum use has to stop – period. The only sustainable future I see for the ICE is biofuel or synthetic fuel (possibly created by extraction of carbon from the atmosphere to create hydrocarbons that are atomically similar to petroleum derived fuel), but that will be unlikely to sustainably meet all transport fuel needs, so that’s where electric comes in, which allows you to leverage renewables and other sources of energy rather than purely fossil fuels for transport.

        Biofuel is controversial, but it’s stock doesn’t have to come from food sources like corn, it can come from dairy waste for example, which in turn lowers the impact of that industry.

        My only issue the with the current greenwash on electric, specifically in Europe is the notion that EVs are the only future, to me, a majority of EVs with a sizeable number of ICE cars, mostly small simple ones, makes some sense.

        The other thing I’ve hinted at is holistically, it’s not enough to just swap all the ICEs for EVs, it’s still too much energy use. Commuting to work by car, especially long commutes – just pointless aggravating gridlock driving, needs to no longer be the norm. Once you know where people live and they work, there’s no reason you can’t just make it easy to leave the car at home with enough investment in public transport and proper planning. One of the big causes of long commutes is this global property/asset bubble, where living inside cities gets so expensive, people can’t afford to actually live IN them anymore. You have to address stuff like adequate, socially affordable housing, so the people needed to make a city work can actually live in it. Road haulage needs to be moved to rail as much as possible.

        It’s like a twisty turny multifaceted rubiks cube of a problem, except you can’t cheat by moving all the stickers.

        Reply
        1. wunno sev Avatar
          wunno sev

          i agree – the fundamental structure of how we move around is incredibly inefficient and the root of many of our transportation-related problems.

          Reply
        2. Vairship Avatar
          Vairship

          Personally owned electric cars, with ICE rental cars/minivans would be just about perfect for my lifestyle. And I think for 90% of others who only make one long trip a year and think they need to buy a car optimized for that one trip instead of for their daily life.
          The *idea* of one car that does it all is powerful, but as a society it’s not efficient.

          If you live out in the middle of nowhere rental cars will be hard to get, so you might be in the 10% exception (unless you buy a Rivian).

          Europe is already going the way of forcing ICE cars out of the city centers, inherently making ICE cars long-distance-only. I think that model will spread to Japan/China very quickly, with the US/Brazil/India/rest of world following eventually. Once ICE cars are banned from the city, even people in rural areas will start leaning toward long-range electrics because then it’ll be ICE cars that will be impractical to have as your “only car”.

          Reply
          1. crank_case Avatar
            crank_case

            I’m not a fan of forcing the ICEs out of the city, because it means if you live in an urban or potentially suburban area, you can’t own an ICE car, even if it’s an occasional use modern classic (say 1990s), which is a bit pants. I generally get to work by bus, my wife drives a petrol Mazda2 which we use for shopping and stuff, but my own car (a 1991 Suzuki Cappuccino) when it’s back on the road will be used for recreational driving, the stuff an EV is really bad at, yet despite the minimal impact, cars like this could potentially be made near impossible to own, but the guy driving two tones of tyco R/C battery pack to work 20-30 miles each way gets a free pass. Go figure. Then again, Europe classes burning trees as renewable energy, so I’m expecting to much here with logic.

            Really, if you do your cities right, people don’t need to use cars to get round them, just to get out of them and owning an EV without a driveway is problematic. In some ways, ICE cars suit the occasional use urban dwellers needs much better.

            Ireland hasn’t seen the ULEZ plague yet, but damnit, I hope they don’t bother, or at least that my car gets some sort of exception.

          2. Vairship Avatar
            Vairship

            https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/01/wood-gas-cars.html (might be a bit heavy for a renewable-energy-Cappuccino). 😉

            Yes, I wish they would work on “complete transit” here in the US instead of designing for cars only. I live only 4 miles from work, but there are no bike paths that are separated from latte-swilling-CUVs by anything other than a stripe of paint. And with public transit that 4 miles takes 45 minutes because they don’t go in the right direction and there’s no connections without extensive waiting.

          3. crank_case Avatar
            crank_case

            Sadly even the Rube Goldberg wood gas option wouldn’t solve the problem as gas and oil fired heating are being phased out in urban areas. Burning stuff to heat houses contributes just as much local pollution as cars (which is one reason ULEZs have rarely been that effective in reducing pollution), so it’s sort of fair enough I guess.

            The way a lot of ULEZs work is by only allowing cars that meet a certain Euro standard (e.g. Euro III, IV, V or VI) depending on how strict the want to be and not matter what you do to your modern classic, it’s not been certified for those standards so won’t be allowed in. It’s a bit of a potential weird no mans land for modern classics that don’t quite fit stuffy FIVA “historic vehicle” definitions if ULEZs are expanded to wider and wider areas.

          4. Wayward David Avatar
            Wayward David

            A personally-owned electric car, with rentals for specific tasks as needed has pretty much been my situation over the las 2.5 years. The only surprise has been that the need to rent a different vehicle from my Bolt has been less than expected, although I plan on using a rental quite a bit over the next couple of weeks. I love my Bolt, but it isn’t quite up to the task of moving everything I own to a different city. Should I have bought a box truck back in 2017 for daily driving so I would be prepared for this move? Uh, nope.

        3. Wayward David Avatar
          Wayward David

          Please consider my upvote to be one vote times eleventy zillion.

          Reply
  12. wunno sev Avatar
    wunno sev

    since we’re all talking electrics: a cynical interpretation of the whole SUV transition is that it was driven by fuel economy standards, which while partially true probably isn’t the whole story – with the nonexistent margins on small cars, I think there’s probably more of a profit motive to it than that narrative suggests. so as we move to electrics, I’d like to see a transition back towards more efficient sedans and small cars.

    blah blah WHY CAN’T THINGS BE LIKE THEY USED TO BE etc, all wishful thinking. but still! new frontiers!

    Reply
  13. crank_case Avatar
    crank_case

    Kei car rules are embraced globally.

    A man can dream.

    Reply
    1. kogashiwa Avatar
      kogashiwa

      cosigned

      Honda, give to me S660, nao

      Reply
  14. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    This picture is to the day 10 years old, my beloved ’71 145 as we found it coming home to our apartment, ready to move to a new house:

    https://i.ibb.co/Lz6wYPn/Hoon.jpg

    We still live here, but the carscape sure has changed. I would sound like FORBES stating that I expect “more and faster paced change in the years to come” (yikes, really?), but I think a lot depends on what happens in the US. The American car industry has moved to the exact opposite of the rest of the world, which, as some remember vividly from the early ’70s, might result in a painfull bellyflop. Or it might not. It’s states and municipalities that drive the EV change in the US, while it is highest level government in the rest of the world, at a much higher pace. All this is pretty much unpredictable to me, and when I look at papers from 1990, it was all about fuel standards and efficiency back then already. The Citroën AX diesel was the “three-litre-car” everyone asked for (78 US mpg), but it didn’t sell that well, or did it?

    So when it comes to legislation and regulation, I am more concerned that some of us Europeans will be legislated off their land. Rural living requires a fair bit of transport and with the focus on that fuel prices and vehicle taxation might turn into something that creates stronger and stronger incentives to move to a city, and get a bike.

    Ten years ago, people were also talking about how Chinese cars will dominated the world soon. My suggestion for 2020 is that that might come in the form of Polestar vehicles, ha!

    Reply
  15. crank_case Avatar
    crank_case

    Seems kind of appropriate for here, but the man who dreamed a better 2020 than any of us has passed away. RIP Syd Mead. So many of his illustrations featured in those “what the world will be like in the future” type books I loved as a kid. He also worked on some small movies, Blade Runner and Aliens, you might have heard of them..

    http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/syd-mead-honda-toyota/

    As little tribute, these Hot Wheels versions of one his designs have pride of place in my diecast collection..

    https://scontent-dub4-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-15/e35/73455993_147290329897135_273350911501267940_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-dub4-1.cdninstagram.com&_nc_cat=107&_nc_ohc=fd1EqRQwsVMAX_TYiSO&oh=502033947a44e311acf32fe7eefab96a&oe=5E964E18

    Reply
    1. Sjalabais Avatar
      Sjalabais

      Balde Runner and Aliens…the not so desirable future. 😳

      Reply
      1. crank_case Avatar
        crank_case

        True, but his non movie art was less grim.
        https://assets.hemmings.com/blog/wp-content/uploads//2017/03/SydMead_1000-970×456.jpg

        Reply
      2. dr zero Avatar
        dr zero

        Wasn’t Alien by HR Giger? Unless Mead did the spaceships, etc.

        Reply
      3. dr zero Avatar
        dr zero

        Wasn’t Alien by HR Giger? Unless Mead did the spaceships, etc.

        Reply
        1. crank_case Avatar
          crank_case

          HR Giger designed the Xenomorph creatures/ Space Jockey for the original Alien, for it’s sequel Aliens, Syd Mead was brought in for the Human spaceships and vehicles http://sydmead.com/category/gallery/aliens/ ..he also did a lot of the design on the original Tron, including the light cycles.

          Reply
  16. Lokki Avatar
    Lokki

    I think the absurd horsepower numbers are very much a sign of a Fin de Siècle. The internal combustion engine is dead; just as surely as the internal combustion engine killed steam power (think locomotives, not cars here) a century ago. In a strange way, my family history has tracked the developments of the last century: My great grandfather worked with the railroads; my grandfather worked in oil (in Pennsylvania); my father worked in electronics; my career was all computer driven. Sadly, I have no children so I can’t clearly forecast the future for you, but my nephew is in software development.

    Reply
  17. kogashiwa Avatar
    kogashiwa

    Literally the only thing I care about is that Toyota finally make good on building a new MR2.

    Reply
  18. Batshitbox Avatar
    Batshitbox

    I’d like to see more buttons and knobs and fewer flat screens on dashboards. Also get rid of rideshare apps.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e7ac7a18fc83c3eef10ffba8424c8bbaf2c32ac5c4fbcd5834784404c466bcdb.jpg

    Reply
    1. dead_elvis, inc. Avatar
      dead_elvis, inc.

      Pushbutton radio-preset style all the buttons!

      Dash 1962-Dodge-Polara-500-Hardtop-Coupe 2

      Reply
  19. salguod Avatar
    salguod

    Honda currently makes 3 levels of enthusiast oriented Civics – the Sport, the Si and the Type R.

    Reply