2025 was another year for the automobile, with a few new entries to our world along with a few leaving us.  New entries for 2025 were mostly made up of additional brands to existing corporations.  Seeing another version of AUDI pop up for the Chinese market, made us wonder if the original products can handle the ever changing Chinese marketplace.  Now with JLR unveiling the new Freelander brand, we are starting to notice a trend.  But is this due to the Chinese marketplace turning away from legacy brands or just another added financial stream to maxed out economy?  Only time will tell on this one.
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      As for our final numbers proved, 2025 was a year of improvement, but only in a minor way.  For the end of the year the average score did move up a tick, but not much for anyone to take notice.  Most of the new 2026 models were just minor improvements over the previous years, as no major change to automotive design was made.  Maybe its time for a revolution in the auto industry, as it seems we are still stuck in the early 2000's of automotive design.  Our only saving grace is that new technology will lead to more drastic design changes.

     Maybe 2027 will be the year that someone decides to step out of the norm to change the way we see new vehicles.   And maybe it will start with autonomous technology and better EV power systems.  These additions may allows us to be more flexible with our design language, updating the way we see vehicles from our 2000's image of today, to a more modern 2030's look.  So, far for what we have seen coming in 2027, things don't look that different, but the year is still young and things could happen.
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      Our most hated new design key feature, which became more dominate in 2026 are  flat windshields.  Seems that curved glass is on its way out, as we add in more driving aids behind the front glass.  As curves can disrupt autonomous systems behind the glass, we have moved to flat glass to deal with this issue.  Maybe our next technology update could be with curve windscreens again, as the flat ones reduce visibility along the A-pillar.  But who are we kidding, as our design theme hasn't changed in two-decades.

      One thing we did like, was the integration of front and rear air ducts and ports to the EV market.  Gone are the simple gelatinous blobs of the past, as automotive designers have finally woken up and figured out that they could use all of the extra space for something other than another storage unit.  Adding on more cooling ducts, can now cool your battery on long drives along with adding much needed downforce to keep your overweight EV closer to the ground.  Let's just hope that this trend keeps expanding with the addition of front interface grilles, as we all love a good face to look at.
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     On our ratings side, AutoLooks did notice that there were a few less CopyCats this year and our Rusty Awards shrunk.  This is good news, as the market is now getting better looking and not copying each other.  Of course this could be because the Chinese marketplace has finally realized that they can design there own cars.  This has lead to a design theme for the Chinese market.  But all is not good, as there design theme is more on the simple side of the spectrum.

      Less new models from existing automakers, as more new products from newer sub-brands were released.  This could be because the market is now changing to see what people will like.  Once the market response to what they like, the legacy auto makers will be back with an all new slew of new products.
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      Around the world, politics became the biggest player in new product releases, as our new tariff landscape has either capped or scrapped new releases in specific markets.  China was cut out of many markets, with the U.S. put up a wall of tariffs to keep more products from entering.  Chinese consumers retaliated by purchasing more home grown products, as legacy makers lost more market share in the 2nd largest automotive market.

     Japan has opened the door to more American products, along with full sized trucks.  Could the narrow Japanese roads be ready for large American products?  Mexico slowed the expanse of the Chinese products to help save there markets manufacturing jobs.  No major tariffs were added, but more restrictions on importing were added in.

     Canada added a 100% tariff to Chinese EV's, which it rescinded to 6.1%, but with a cap of only allowing 49,000 vehicles per year.  This will be a benefit to Geely and Tesla, but it could open the door for BYD to setup shop in Canada.

    South America put the brakes on a new Chinese dominated expanse, as they investigated working conditions at new manufacturing sites. This lead to a halt in production, as the market renegotiated its investments.  The Middle East saw modest growth, with Europe giving the title dominate EV to Chinese brands.  This has also lead to new production sites for Chinese brands within the European marketplace, as they look to expand to the old country.

      Australia and Asian markets saw an influx of Chinese vehicles and a renewed interest from American companies.  No further plans are set for new production facilities, but the interest is there.

      Africa may be last on our list, but it is not lost, as the automotive market looks to expand into new markets on the continent.  New partnership companies have sprung up in select African countries where more stable governments are in place.  The automotive world is now seeing that Africa is the next frontier for there market, as the continent does have the youngest population globally.  And with governments becoming more stable and open to new technology and infrastructure investments, we may just see an explosion in Africa by the early 2030's. 

​       With companies like Wallys, Kiira and Mobius Motors set to expand over the next few years with a little help from Chinese companies.  Africa is just getting its feet wet and soon may become similar to what we have seen happen in China over the past three-decades.  But with a few civil unrests still happening, this could hamper the expanse of the complete marketplace, as they do require more stable infrastructure when crossing the continent.  Only time will tell if Africa can become the next great frontier.
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     At the end of the year, when our ratings were complete and we had some time to sit down and really go over the past year.  We took notice of what had happened and started to realize that 2026 is looking more promising for the global automotive marketplace.  Even with U.S. tariffs still in place, the rest of the world has gotten closer to each other as they have opened up there boarders to close allies and looked past the largest market for new sales. 

    With a renewed interest in a more global marketplace, the automotive world is looking better as we go into 2026.  Let's just hope there are a few new companies from a few new markets open up this year, as the marketplace opens back up.  Maybe Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Australia will get back into the automotive world this year.

Here's to 2026
Everett J.
​#autolooks

A+ Vehicles for 2025: 13/652 (1.99%)
Rusty Vehicles for 2025: 70/652 (10.74%)
CopyCat Vehicles for 2025: 24/65 (3.68%)
Character Awards for 2025: 7/652 (1.07%) 
Cookie Awards for 2025: 8/652 (1.23%)

Vehicles Rated: 652
Companies Rated: 237
Corporations Rated: 44
Average Score: 54.74% (C)
Most new vehicles
        Division: Toyota with 32 (4.91%) new or updated models
       Corporate: Toyota Motor Co. with 46 (7.06%) new or updated models
Best Corporate Rating: General Motors - 60.64%

​A+ Segment: Aftermarket - 62.73%
​Rusty Segment: Truck - 49.71%

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BAIC Group: Thirteen (13) new models - 49.03%
BYD Auto Co.: Twenty-Five (25) new models - 56.17%
Chery International: Thirty-Six (36) new models - 54.54%
Dongfeng Motor Corp: Seventeen (17) new models - 54.48%
FAW Group: Four (4) new models - 51.38%
Ford Motor Company: Fifteen (15) new models - 53.99%
Zhejiang Geely Holding Group: Forty (40) new models - 54.48%
GM: Eleven (11) new models - 60.64%
Great Wall Motors: Eight (8) new models - 51.84%
Guangzhou Auto: Seven (7) new models - 53.98%
Honda Motor Corp.: Eight (8) new models - 53.37%
Huawei: Five (5) new models - 50.59%
Hyundai Motor Group: Twenty-Nine (29) new models - 53.33%
Jiangling Motors Corp. (JMC): Nine (9) new models - 50.37%
Mahindra: Four (4) new models - 52.16%
Mercedes-Benz AG: Four (4) new models - 48.52%
Nissan Motor Co.: Thirty-Two (32) new models - 55.26%
Renault Group: Fifteen (15) new models - 58.67%
SAIC: Seventeen (17) new models - 56.27%
Stellantis: Thirty-Five (35) new models - 54.28%
Tata Group: Six (6) new models - 47.01%
Toyota Motor Group: Forty-Six (46) new models - 55.52%
Volkswagen AG: Thirty-Six (36) new models - 57.96%
Wuling Motor Holdings: Twelve (12) new models - 47.90%
Yulon Motors: Seven (7) new models - 46.95%

​Want to see more from these companies, check out our Corporate Links page.

​Product Size

​2026 Flexis Mobility Cargo - EV - 66.71%
2026 Renault Trafic e-Tech - EV - 66.71%
2026 Kia PV5 Cargo - EV - 57.01%
2025 Karry EV8 - EV - 50.13%
2026 Edison Future EF1-V - EV - 49.93%
2025 FIAT Scudo Cargo - ICE - 47.87%
2026 Linxys Golden Van - PHEV - 47.51%
2025 JMC E-Fushun - EV - 47.07%
2026 Farizon V7E - EV - 43.86%
2025 Shineray E3 - EV - 43.15%
2025 Oshkosh NGDV - EV - 36.07%

​Complete list for all of the 2026 rated vehicles from the ALV (active lifestyle vehicles) segment.

​Product Size

2025 Kaiyi X7 - ICE - 62.19%
2025 Moskvich 8 - ICE - 59.24%
2024 Tiger Six - ICE - 55.68%
2026 Chery Tiggo 5 - ICE - 47.14%
2026 Hedmos O6 - EV - 46.72%

2026 Infiniti QX65 Monograph - ICE - 60.76%
2026 Exeed Exlantix e05 - EV - 57.45%
2026 Exeed Yaoguang C-DM - PHEV - 53.25%
2026 Lexus RZ 350e / 500e - EV - 61.77%
2026 AUDI E7X SUV - EV - 58.82%
2026 Genesis GV70 - ICE - 55.10%
2026 Porsche Cayenne Electric - EV - 52.12%
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