A BLURRING LANDSCAPE
Alogical mind seeks order. Taxonomy within the natural sciences is what allows zoologists to identify species. Even in medicine, doctors use different standardised codes to bill insurers when a patient is ‘bitten by crocodile’ versus ‘bitten by alligator’. One can only wish that things were as straightforward in the automotive world. Today more than ever, the lines are blurred when classifying cars; each model can be, and do, so many different things. When Robb Report created its Car of the Year contest 21 years ago, categories such as Sports Car, Convertible, GT and Sedan were clear demarcations of a vehicle's purpose and capability. Back then, it was unthinkable that an SUV might out-sport a sports car while being every bit as comfortable as a four-door luxury sedan. Yet in 2019, Lamborghini's Urus SUV was voted our Car of the Year, stealing so many judges’ hearts by doing everything so well.
Since then, SUV-ish designs including Aston Martin's DBX707 and the Ferrari Purosangue have toppled preconceived notions and obliterated conventional automotive categorisation. Every one of our 10 Car of the Year contenders for 2024—put through the paces in California and Florida—is a true high-performance vehicle and a luxury vehicle, each ladling on varying ratios of these antipodal and once mutually exclusive attributes. McLaren's Artura, the quickest of the bunch with a zero-to-100km/h time of 3.0 seconds, gives up interior space but not comfort, while Rolls-Royce's 5.1-second Cullinan is only slightly slower—all the better for occupants to savour its spectacular cabin. The former is a track master, the latter more a longhaul cruiser, yet both capably acquit themselves as a daily driver. And price isn't necessarily the key to pleasure, either. About US$473,000 separates the US$86,780 Alfa Romeo Giulia QV and the US$559,650 Rolls-Royce Spectre, yet Alfa Romeo's do-it-all sports sedan took seven of our 123 judges’ top votes, only two fewer than the otherworldly electric Rolls-Royce.
If there's another trend, it's that all-electric and hybrid-electric power trains will continue to elbow out their internal-combustion-engine (ICE) competitors. Like it or not (and plenty of our judges vociferously did not), the electric vehicle (EV) revolution is upon us.
This year, two of our entrants, the MercedesAMG EQE SUV and the Rolls-Royce Spectre, are entirely battery powered—a first for both marques—while the BMW XM and the McLaren Artura are both plug-in hybrids. The Artura combines what, to the editors’ minds, is the best of both the electric- and the ICE-powered worlds. The British marque melds them brilliantly, using hybrid architecture that employs a motor to boost an all-new V6 engine; its superb power train is just one reason why the editors chose it as their Car of the Year.
Which is not to diminish the overall winner. Aston Martin's DB12 proves that a venerable formula—a drop-dead-gorgeous GT with sportscar chops and an ultra-luxe interior—is tough
