Best new cars 2019 – the most exciting new performance cars arriving this year - Best new cars 2019 – the most exciting new performance cars arriving this year

Skoda

Skoda’s all-new Octavia will arrive just before the end of the year, joining its smaller Golf, Leon and A3 relatives on a revised MQB platform. As in those cars, the interior is due a massive update over the current model, with new infotainment tech, interior layout and sharp new exterior styling. A vRS is due to follow next year, likely sharing its underpinnings with the forthcoming Golf GTI.

Volkswagen

Volkswagen’s 2019 will be highlighted by the all-new Mk8 Golf. It’s to be based on a heavily updated version of the current car’s MQB platform, but with further adaptations for hybridisation and a dramatic improvement in interior tech. The new exterior design has already been caught pretty much undisguised, and follows the previous model’s crisp styling, but with added drama of LED lighting surfaces and bigger wheels. GTI and R models will follow, but these will likely come later in 2020.

> Click here for more on the next-generation Golf

The second big car for Volkswagen is what it’s calling the next step after the Golf – the new ID. It’s been designed from the outset to be the first proper attempt at a mass-produced, high-volume all-electric family car for VW. If it succeeds, it’ll mean that for one of the biggest and most influential manufacturers of all time, 2019 will be the year it both rewrites one of its most prominent current chapters, and creates a whole new one. Important times indeed.