There’s an exciting array of new models set to bow next year, but these sports cars (and EV crossovers!?) have us most excited
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Well, we’ve looked back at the past year in eleventy different ways – okay, four different ways, to be more accurate, with our requisite favourite cars of 2025, least favourite cars of 2025, favourite Driving.ca articles of 2025, and for something different, our automotive pet peeves of 2025 – and now it’s time for us to look ahead. There’s plenty of exciting new cars on the horizon for 2026, and we thought that we’d poll our writers and editors about the ones they’re looking forward to the most.
The resulting list is filled with, as you might presume, some absolutely jaw-dropping performance machinery, including some models we’re expecting to see bow but that have not yet been fully revealed. But our bread and butter here at Driving is reviewing the cars that everyday Canadians shuttle around in, which means our contributors are actually, earnestly excited about next year’s crop of mainstream crossovers, too (many of them EVs!). The boss also let us slip in a few new-old restomod drives we’re trying to line up, so this ’26 preview truly runs the gamut.
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Are you as excited as we are about the cars listed below? Or are you looking forward to test-driving a model we missed, perhaps ahead of a prospective purchase? Sound off in the comments below and let us know.
3.80
out of 5
MSRP $33,685 to $45,305
3.80
out of 5
MSRP $36,975 to $43,375
3.25
out of 5
MSRP $24,520 to $32,840
3.80
out of 5
MSRP $24,820
3.00
out of 5
MSRP $27,740 to $37,215
Toyota’s new flagship GR GT won’t sound like the much-missed Lexus LFA of 20 years ago, but it’ll no doubt be excellent to drive. It’ll be interesting to see how it picks up the crown established by the 2000GT back in the 1960s.
Speaking of established marques, the return of the Honda Prelude is getting mixed reactions given the pricing, but I can’t wait to drive one. The Civic Hybrid Sport is a properly excellent little car, so something that’s basically a coupe version of that could be excellent fun.
And, if we’re going to go for pie-in-the-sky wish-list stuff, that new restomod Lotus from Encor looks incredible. Having driven an early Esprit Turbo, the cars are fantastic, lively as you’d hope from a Lotus. This one seems to have been executed without going overboard (17-inch wheels on a reborn supercar? Yes, please!) and even though they’re only making 50 of them, perhaps a spin around the block in a prototype might be possible.
Maybe it’s the anticipation created by the extended delays; or maybe it’s tension from the insistence on, and then backpedal from, going fully electric. But of all the cars set to arrive in 2026, I’m most intrigued by what’s in store for the Porsche Cayman and Boxster. Can the venerated performance automaker retain the character of its mid-engined sports cars once they have battery packs bolted underneath?
No one can fault Porsche for taking the time to get it right—or for opting to keep an internal-combustion version on tap in case the EV shift doesn’t land. Either way, sign me up for a cruise along a winding coastal road once the time finally comes to find out.
Unconfirmed but expected to appear are Hemi variants of the Dodge Charger, which ranks high on my list of these desired things. The 2027 Kia Telluride promises to continue its forward-looking ways. The next-gen BMW 3 Series may be a seismic shift. And the new Lexus LFA should rearrange our faces with extreme levels of performance.
I’ve stopped putting supercars and speed-machines here in the hopes my editors would assign me such a vehicle and help me achieve some cute car-journo dream—instead I’m going to nominate the new Subaru Trailseeker. As a multiple-Subaru-Outback owner myself, I have a fond affinity for wagon-y SUVs, and design-wise, the Trailseeker seems to speak my language more than the new, boxy, SUV-looking 2026 Outback.
An all-electric EV that seems to channel the look and feel of the Outback, the Trailseeker looks like the EV that Subaru needs, rather than all these weird mishmashes of Toyota hardware and platforms. Not that the Trailseeker isn’t using Toyota hardware – it seems based on the Toyota BZ – but it feels more unique than the old Solterra-BZ4X deal the two automakers shook out.
What caught my eye with the Trailseeker is that it’s called the “e-Outback” in other markets, which has me wondering if Subaru was too afraid to affix the electric powertrain to its flagship product, the Outback. With that conspiracy out of the way, I can’t wait to drive the Subaru EV and see how the company’s changed its approach since its first go at electrification in the Solterra (a barely adequate offering in the world of EVs).
I went to the Ferrari factory in September to attend what was supposed to be a technical reveal of the company’s first all-electric vehicle. It actually turned out to be a reveal of the 1,000-hp Elettrica’s naked four-motor chassis, which is to say it was bereft of any body panels. So, I want to see the completed product, which will likely be some type of crossover, and take it for a spin. Otherwise, I will leave most of the exotic stuff to Mr. David Booth.
On a more affordable level: for 40-plus years, one of my favourite cars has been BMW’s 3 Series sport sedan. A new eighth-generation sedan will debut as a 2027 model, reportedly with a battery-electric powertrain to go along with gas engine-powered versions. BMW has not released many details, but I’m hopeful it will retain that same balance of power, handling and comfort as the current model.
Compact crossovers are exceedingly popular in Canada, and the segment is highly competitive. So, Subaru’s new 2026 Crosstrek Hybrid has my attention. It’s supposed to be out already, but it’s now the middle of November and no road test yet. The Crosstrek is Subaru’s best-selling model in Canada, and the hybrid model will arrive with a next-generation series-parallel hybrid system integrated with a 2.5L boxer four-cylinder, standard symmetrical all-wheel-drive, and EyeSight driver-assist technology.
With cautious optimism, the car I most look toward is the Bertone Runabout. Inspired by Marcello Gandini’s 1969 concept that led to the Fiat X1/9, the Runabout promises lightweight, focused driving in a fabulously avant-retro compact wedge.
Scant details breed a sensible skepticism, but a few spots point to proper feasibility here. A ground-up car is obviously out of the question, but the proportions, mid-rear V6 layout, and instantly recognizable windscreen and pillar-mounted mirrors point straight to the good ol’ Lotus Elise platform. That architecture has proven itself plenty amenable to bespoke builds, having underpinned the Opel Speedster, Vauxhall VX220, original Tesla Roadster, and Hennessey Venom GT.
Priced toward CDN$600k, the 25 units promise 500 horsepower with your choice of conventionally glassed targa arrangement or cropped-down Barchetta. And given how delightfully the Elise and VX200 drive, such a brilliantly styled adaptation of their aluminum bones should only bring greater delights. Please please pleaseeeee?
Earlier this year I drove the 2026 Nissan Rogue PHEV (plug-in hybrid), which is the brand’s first gas-electric hybrid in our market. It’s actually a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV with some trim changes – the two companies are under the larger Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi umbrella – and it’s basically a stopgap until Nissan introduces its own in-house hybrid system here in an all-new 2027 Rogue. The automaker may not have had a hybrid here, but it’s sold them in Japan since 2017, and our Rogue will carry the new, third-generation version of that system.
That model is yet to come, but on the event, I had a chance to drive this new hybrid system in a European-spec Qashqai, and it seems really well done. The gas engine never drives the wheels, but instead acts like a generator to make electricity for the hybrid battery and motor. It’s super-smooth and feels exactly like piloting an electric car, but without the need to charge it. The Qashqai was two-wheel-drive, but the Rogue will be all-wheel (AWD) and so I’m itching to get in the seat and see how it performs. If it’s as good as my preview to it was, this could have the potential to take the hybrid market out in a whole new direction.
The two cars I really want to drive in 2026 are the BMW iX3’s first two spin-offs. The i3 electric will be the first of the eighth-generation 3 Series sedans to hit the road. It will be followed by BMW’s first all-electric M car. At this point, both are shrouded in the secrecy called an “embargo.” Without breaking it, I can say both will deliver next-level performance and set benchmarks destined to stand the test of time.
Beyond these two, my wish is to pilot the electric Lexus LFA shown at the 2025 Tokyo Mobility Show. It is jaw-dropping in its proportions, and if the drive lives up to the looks, well, more jaw-dropping will ensue. The original LFA was a legend with its 553-hp V10 and the majestic civility built into its driving dynamics. The electric replacement should be no less of a legend when it finally graces the road with me behind the wheel!
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