Prestigious New Cars Coming in 2019

Let’s start with Audi, who have a number of new cars hitting the roads this year, but 3 that we are particularly looking forward to. Firstly, the e-tron. Audi’s first fully electric road car will be hitting showrooms soon and we’re excited because it doesn’t look too eccentrically electric. It looks like an attractive, regular SUV which will be highly desirable, and at the same time it will do 248 miles on a single charge and cost very little to keep going. It’s not cheap, with prices starting from £71,490, but it looks like it could be a top-seller due to its agreeable looks, gorgeous interior and excellent technology levels.

You’ve probably not even seen a single 8 Series Coupe out on the roads yet. They’ve only just begun entering showrooms but BMW has wasted no time in drumming up interest in the Convertible model which should be on sale this summer. The 8 Series will rival the Mercedes S-Class in offering supreme levels of comfort with effortless performance thanks to a well-built and sophisticated engine. The drop-top version will offer the same level of exquisite performance and luxury as the coupe, only with the added benefit of roof-down thrills. The 8 Series petrol models will come exclusively as V8s but there is also a 3.0-litre diesel engine available. Impressively, the cloth roof will fully retract in just 18 seconds, which is handy for the few glimpses of sun we get in the UK. The 8 Series will start from £83,270.     
 

The hottest hatch on the market is getting even hotter for 2019. That’s right, the demonic A45 AMG is being updated this year in line with the new A-Class hatchback. Early signs suggest this new model will pack even more of a punch than the old model with a power output rumoured to be in excess of 400 horsepower! That’s frankly mind-boggling when you remember that the A45 uses a modestly-sized 2.0-litre engine. It’s difficult to put a price tag on this new model as Mercedes are yet to announce any official figures, however based on the price of the previous model and the prices of the competition, we’d expect to see the A45 AMG start from around £45,000. That is quite a bit of cash for a hatchback...

The second Audi we’re looking forward to in 2019 is the new Q4. It’s a brand new model for the Audi lineup and it fills the void in their Q-family. The Q4 will be based on the Q3 platform, so it’s a small-medium sized SUV only it will have a sportier aesthetic than the Q3. Expect coupe-styling and sloped roofline. You can also expect a wider track and some muscular wheel arches to set it apart from the more conservatively styled Q3. The Q4 will be going on sale in the summertime and prices are likely to start just shy of £30,000 which isn’t bad at all for a premium car of this size and stature.   

The new Velar from Range Rover is being gifted with a somewhat radical makeover this year as the engineers from the SVR division will be waving their wand on the medium-sized SUV. What does this mean? Well, the Velar will be fitted with a hugely powerful engine, a 5.0 litre V8 putting down around 550 horsepower which will bring the 0-60 time to 4.3 seconds. It will be the fastest Range Rover ever produced, even faster than the current Range Rover Sport SVR model. This will all, of course, be reflected in the price tag of £86,120. 

And from the reasonable to the frankly ridiculous. Ferrari is launching the Spider version of their 488 Pista. The 488 replaced the top-performing 458, only it uses turbochargers to add even more grunt to the raucous V8 engine mounted behind the front seats. So, let's look at the figures. There will be a top speed of 211 mph, it will get to 60 mph in 2.85 seconds, 124 mph in 8 seconds, and the total power output reaches an obscene 711 horsepower. That’s plenty of encouragement if you’re lucky enough to be considering which supercar you’re hoping to splash out on next. The price tag is still a mystery but with the ‘regular’ 488 costing from £217,000 - we’d expect the Pista Spider to be at least £270,000.

The Z4 is back and it means business. The old model had gone slightly soft, opting for a more refined folding hard-top and softer suspension. More of a cruiser than a proper sports car. This new model is the polar opposite. The cloth roof returns, dropping weight significantly as well as the centre of gravity. It is now also available only with a highly-strung, 340 horsepower 3.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine from launch under the nametag ‘Z4 M40i’. A 2.0 litre and lesser powered 3.0 litre have since entered the lineup. Interestingly, a lot of the Z4s underpinnings and DNA will exist in the upcoming Toyota Supra, which is another car to look forward to but there are currently very few details about what to expect. The new Z4 is on sale now and prices start from a reasonable £36,990.
 

The final Audi we’re excited for is perhaps the most exhilarating. Audi is releasing a new RS version of the A7 Sportback and it looks likely to pack over 600 horsepower - that’s supercar levels of power in a sophisticated, comfortable and frighteningly attractive saloon. The RS7 will use a 4.0-litre V8 engine (the same one available in the Porsche Panamera Turbo and Lamborghini Urus) in an effort to rival, and surpass, the class-leading BMW M5. The 0-60 mph time will drop to below 3.5 seconds and if you pay a little extra to have the electric limiter removed, a new RS7 should be good for a whopping 190 mph… Unnecessarily fast but incredible nonetheless. The price list hasn’t yet been announced but we anticipate that a suitably equipped model will cost you just shy of £100,000.

A second BMW that we’re looking forward to is the new BMW X7 - BMW’s largest car ever, featuring BMW’s largest iconic kidney grilles ever too. The X7 is built to rival the full-size Range Rover as well as the Mercedes-Benz GLS - so it needs to be big and it most certainly is. In fact, it’s the biggest SUV on the market, taller, wider and longer than the Range Rover. The X7 hosts 7 seats with adequate space to fit 7 tall adults and still have room for luggage. It’s no slouch either, despite weighing 2,370 kg it will still haul itself from 0-60 in just 7 seconds and go on to 140 mph. The X7 will start from £72,155 but for that, you get one of the most imperious vehicles on the road with a stunning interior, high levels of equipment and an imposing exterior. 
 

And finally, one that a lot of people have been waiting for, literally - some people put their orders in over 2 years ago now, the new Tesla Model 3. The Model 3 collected over 500,000 paid reservations before a release date was even announced but, finally, the 3rd model of the new generation of Teslas should be hitting the roads in 2019 and it will be the most accessible and affordable Tesla of the lineup. There are single-motor and dual-motor versions available with the former returning up to 240 miles on one charge and the latter up to 310 miles, obviously, this is reflected in the price. Inside, you get pretty much all the amazing technology that exists in the more expensive Model S and Model X. We don’t really know what to expect about the prices because even on Teslas British website the prices are given in USD. According to today's conversion rate, a Model 3 will apparently start from £27,000 but that seems a bit too affordable, so we’ll have to wait and see.