2020 year end review

    2020 may have just arrived, but the new models are already here.  For 2020 you may be surprised as to who will take the crown for both ends.  As a company who has been asleep for some time will steal your heart this year.  While a big player will wind up hitting rock bottom.

   For 2020 it seems that there may be a few more new models for us to rate than last year.  But that hasn't stopped a few companies from gaining some ground over the competition.  So for 2020 we would like to announce the rebirth of a famous company who brought us one of favourite "James Bond" cars of all time.  
    So join us as we salute Lotus on their win of the 2020 AutoLooks A+ Winner for best automotive design.

​Everett J.

---

• 2020 A+ Awards
• 2020 Rusty Awards
• 2020 Copycat Awards
• 2020 Year End Review
• Loss and Arrivals

---

2020 A+ Award winner for best design: 2020 Lotus evija

2020 A+ Awards

#1: Lotus Evija - The rebirth of the famous Esprit
#2: DeTomaso P72 - Not even a copycat award can hold this down
#3: Pininfarina Battista - The car from a great design house
#4: Milan Red - A new breed of hypercar
#5: Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Roadster - Most fun with your top off
#6: Vandal One - F1 inspired fun
#7: Aston Martin DBS GT Zagato - The best of both worlds, together
#8: Ferrari SF90 Stradale - A Ferrari for the people
#9: Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Coupe/Convertible - Mid-engine fun at its best
#10: McLaren 600LT by MSO & Spider - All around good times from both
​

    After a long battle with an ever changing corporate owner and a lack of proper resources, it seems that Lotus is finally back on track to take on the world.  Our new top dog in the Lotus stable may not be the ever desired Esprit model, but the Evija has it where it counts.   And not only with its styling, but with its all new power plant as well.  Lotus has really stepped out of their shell with the Evija and we are glad that they did.

    AutoLooks was glad to name the all new Evija our 2020 A+ winner, as Lotus went above and beyond with not only their new power plant, but with they entire styling layout.  We just hope that this is not the only new product we can expect from them for this decade.  Just like how the Evora was the only new product of the last decade.

     But a new successor to the Esprit model line was not our only great new product for 2020, as we had a lot more choices this year than any other year.  For 2020 we had 21 models hit the A+ mark of 75%, which is a massive increase from last years 7 models.  So as it may appear that companies are starting to see that design is an integral part of their product.
    
    This years runner-up spot goes to another rebirth product, as it seems DeTomaso wanted to bring back the Ferrari 330 P4.  But even with a CopyCat award upon them, the Detomaso P72 was strong enough where it counts to hit our number 2 spot for best design.

​
     For our third spot this year our winner came from not only a new automotive manufacture, but a company who specializes in designing some of the best vehicles out there.  Pininfarina Battista may be a cousin of the Ferrari SF90 Stradale, as Pininfarina designed both, but it seems that the Battista has a bit more going on then its Ferrari cousin.  Guess they didn't want to give Ferrari their best design this year as they wanted they wanted to expand into the Hypercar field.  Let's just hope that they can keep this design going just like Italdesign Design did.
 
    The rest of the playing field seemed to be filled by what you would come to expect from the A+ awards.  Only two new companies managed to hit our list this year as both Milan and Vandal managed to show the world how they could take on the segments they are in.  But with names like Lamborghini, Zagato and Bugatti nipping at their toes, they may want to keep up their game or fear losing their place on the list.
 
    Out only major head turner for this year seemed to be from one of the least expected places, as Chevrolet managed to hit our list again with the Corvette.  But this time its not their top of the line aftermarket product winning the entry, but their standard Stingray model.  This could have due to the fact that the Corvette is now a mid-engine touring car which could spawn a modern day supercar from Chevrolet.  If that happens, you can expect to see them on our list next year as well.

   As we guessed it does seem that 2020 was better than 2019 and if things keep going this way, we should expect 2021 to be even better.  Let's hope so as we would like to see the bottom end get shorter as the top gets longer.

​Everett J.

---

2020 Rusty award winner: 2020 Suzuki Wagonr

2020 Rusty Awards

#1: Suzuki WagonR - Just another toaster for the world
#2: Honda Fit/Jazz - Only a slight improvement over the last generation
#3: Nissan NV250 - Bug eyed blob of a van
#4: Volkswagen Multivan 6.1 - All too little features and flat surfaces
#5: Ora iQ - You might need your IQ checked for this one
#6: Mitsubishi Xpander Cross - What did they expand on
#7: Suzuki S-Presso - The wrong way to product share
#8: Hyundai Iconiq - Still not as iconic as the Prius
#9: Honda Fit Crosstar - Even the soft-road package couldn't help
#10: Wuling Hong Guang Plus - Blackness couldn't help this crossover out
​

    2020 seems to be a better year for design, as our bottom end is a bit shorter than last year.  With a 2% decrease in the worst designed vehicles amount, it seems that companies are finally catching on.   And to top if off, this years Rusty winner only won one award this year.   Seems they copycats are getting better as our top spot only goes to the worst design, not a copycat of the worst design.

    This year though marks a dark day for Suzuki, as they have two vehicles on out worst list.  But worst yet is that the 2020 Suzuki WagonR has been given our "Rusty Award" for bad designs.  Yes Suzuki may have finally hit rock bottom as both of their vehicles on this list are shared products.  Guess they should rethink who they work with on future products. 

    As usual our runner up for wort designed comes from a company who has more Rusty awards than any one.  Honda takes the title of runner up for the all new Jazz/Fit model.  Both the I.C.E. and E.V. models hit the low of the low when it came to working together, but why fit something that is already broke.  The worst part about it, is that the cross-trek version is also the list.  Guess you can't fix boring, even when it goes off road.

​    Our 2nd runner up had to go van, as it seems there is always a van on this list.  This year there are two, but only the 2020 Nissan NV250 was more worthy of this title.  Good news for Volkswagen, but bad news for Nissan.   Guess Nissan should have taken our advice and worked with someone a bit better for their van design as the all new NV250 is a horrible version of the Renault Kangoo.  But really is the Kangoo any better.

    The rest of our list is littered with the standard hatchbacks, vans and ev's.  But it seems that Mitsubishi wanted to get in on the action with their Xpander Cross.  The base Xpander is a pretty volatile vehicle to begin with, but make it cross-trek and you have the Rusty award winner.

    It was nice to see a drop in the amount of Rusty Awards this year, but it's still not enough in our books as would prefer if the bottom dropped out at 45%, not the usual 35%.  But I guess we will just have to wait and see what 2021 brings us as we hope our bottom end list will shrink even more.

​Everett J.

---

2019 Copycat award winners

2020 Copycat Awards

2020 Enovate ME7 - side profile of the 2018 Audi Q5
2020 Sinogold GM3 - appeal of the 2018 Citroen Grand C4 Picasso
2020 Aiways RG Nathalie - side profile of the 2019 Nissan GTR
2020 Aiways U5 - side profile of the 2020 Nio ES6
2020 Alieno Arcanum - appeal of the Lamborghini Huracan
2020 DeTomaso P72 - appeal of a Ferrari 330 P4
2020 Drako GTE - appeal of the Karma Revero
2020 Great Wall Motors Pao - outline of the Toyota Tundra
2020 Hyundai Palisade - side profile of a Cadillac Escalade
2020 Kia Telluride - front quarter profile of a GMC Yukon
2020 Kia Telluride - side profile of a Range Rover
2020 Lincoln Aviator - side profile of a Range Rover Sport
2020 Li-Xiang One - side profile of a Volvo XC90
2020 Microlino Car - overall appeal of a BMW Isetta
2020 Mitsuoka Rock Star - appeal of a Corvette Stingray
2020 Pininfarnia Battista - designed and shared 90% of the features from the Ferrari SF90 Stradale

---

2020 Year end review:

2020 Year End Review

A+ Vehicles for 2018: 21/490 (4%)
Rusty Vehicles for 2018: 75/490 (15%)
CopyCat Vehicles for 2018: 15/490 (3%)
Companies Rated: 129
Average Score: 54.35% (C)
Most new vehicles: Toyota with 31 (6%) new or updated models

A+ Segment: High Performance - 73.14%
​Rusty Segment: Hatchback - 45.26%

Aston Martin: 5 new models at 68.10%
Audi: 21 new models at 56.478%
Baojun: 5 new models at 54.92%
BMW: 20 new models at 55.66%
Buick: 11 new models at 57.07%
Cadillac: 5 new models at 56.05%
Chevrolet: 16 new models at 52.02%
Ferrari: 5 new models at 67.55%
Fiat: 7 new models at 46.98% 
Ford: 17 new models at 54.72%
Geely: 4 new models at 52.79%
Honda: 11 new models at 43.63%
Hyundai: 12 new models at 53.80%
Kia: 14 new models at 54.33%
Maxus: 4 new models at 62.46%
Mazda: 4 new models at 47.04%
Mercedes-Benz: 29 new models at 51.93%
Mini: 8 new models at 48.42%
Mitsubishi: 6 new models at 47.23%
Nissan: 15 new models at 55.42%
Opel/Vauxhall: 7 new models at 45.88%
Peugeot: 6 new models at 51.16%
Porsche: 8 new models at 52.77%
Renault: 18 new models at 51.43%
Skoda: 10 new models at 55.10%
Subaru: 6 new models at 47.24%
Toyota: 31 new models at 52.97%
Volkswagen: 20 new models at 49.24% 

---

Loss and Arrivals

remembering who we lost in 2019

Junior Johnson (December 20) 
Lee Iacocca (July 2)
Niki Lauda (May 20) 
Volkswagen Beetle (July 10)

---

welcoming a few new companies

Aviar (Russia), Canoo (U.S.A.), Chanje (China), Charge (U.K.), Drako (U.S.A.), e.Go (Germany), Enovate (China), Geometry (China), Gyon (China), Jetta (China), Lightyear (Netherlands), LinkData (China), Link Tour (China), Li-Xiang (China), Lordstown Motors (U.S.A.), Morris Commercial (U.K.) Neuron EV (China/U.S.A.), ORA (China), Piech (Switzerland), Prato (France), Sandstorm Automotive (U.A.E.), Sinogold (China), SiTech (China), TOGG (Turkey), Uniti AB (Sweden), Vandal Cars (U.S.A.), Xiaopeng (China), Zeal Motors (Canada), Zedriv (China), Zero Labs (U.S.A.), Zhidou (China)