Top 10 automotive stories of 2019

When it comes to the auto industry, 2019 saved some of the biggest news and surprises for late, with a 40-day UAW strike bringing production to a halt at General Motors, an announcement of a merger partner for Fiat Chrysler, GM's shock racketeering lawsuit against the same company and some very compelling new product reveals. Through it all, the industry looks set to buck early pessimism by finishing out a surprisingly strong year for sales.

What follows is our list of the top 10 auto stories of 2019. Did we miss anything? Tell us in the comments.

Ford's newest Mustang is an electric crossover

Ford made a big splash to kick off the L.A. Auto Show by finally revealing its first dedicated battery-electric vehicle, calling it the Mustang Mach-E.

Using Mustang branding on the crossover, including the galloping horse up front where the grille would ordinarily be, didn’t sit well with some enthusiasts, who groused about cheapening the potent Mustang brand. Others defended the decision as a smart way to inject passion and excitement into a project that Ford acknowledged “looked like a science project” when it began. “I was absolutely adamant that it not be a Mustang,” Chairman and family scion Bill Ford Jr. acknowledged in the video explaining the Mach-E’s origins. But few would argue about the Mach-E’s sporting fastback looks, its Tesla-like interior or its specs, which top out at 459 horsepower and 612 pound-feet of torque, or a projected 300 or so miles of range, depending on its configuration. It was enough to earn it Autoblog’s top pick from L.A.

World, meet Cybertruck

On the other side of the L.A. Auto Show, Elon Musk’s unveiling of the long-awaited Tesla Cybertruck created comparable buzz to the Mustang Mach-E, even if it left some people scratching their heads and others simply shaking theirs. It’s probably an understatement to call the Cybertruck’s angular and hard-edged styling divisive, having drawn comparisons to DeLorean on the positive end of the spectrum and the Pontiac Aztek on the other. “A freaking triangle!” one Autoblog commenter remarked.

Beyond its polarizing aesthetics, the Cybertruck boasts muscular specs, with a claimed top range of 500 miles, maximum towing capacity of 14,000 pounds and a 0-60 mph time of 2.9 seconds. It features one to three electric motors among its three different powertrain options, an adaptive air suspension with adaptive ride height, a bulletproof (!) stainless steel body and unbreakable windows that broke during a reveal stunt. Oh, well. Like the Model 3, there are questions about how Tesla will make good on its promised $39,900 starting price, what the final production version will look like and the downfalls of using stainless steel body panels. Musk said Tesla received 250,000 reservations for the truck within five days.

Supra reborn

Another vehicle that deeply divided opinion, the 2020 Toyota Supra is a controversial resurrection of the beloved and storied sports car nameplate, after two decades in hibernation, via a partnership with BMW. Featuring a short deck and long hood, the rear-drive two-seater owes much of its parts, engineering and 3.0-liter inline-six to the Z4 convertible and made some sacrifices from the larger FT-1 concept that presaged its arrival. Love it or hate it, everyone had an opinion about the so-called “German Supra”: It doesn’t come in manual; its styling is too busy; it’s too expensive at $50,920. But it looks almost nothing like the Z4 and drives differently, too. And aside from infusing some badly needed excitement into a weirdly dreary January auto show in Detroit, no one could stop talking about it.

Corvette C8 arrives at last

Following decades of concepts, leaks, renderings and plenty of camouflaged mules, Chevy finally made good on its promise to reimagine the Corvette as, for the first time ever, a mid-engine sports car. Bearing an all-new LT2 V8 making 490 horsepower and visible through a glass pane, it sends more power to the rear wheels and redistributes weight, a dry-sump oil system and dual-clutch transmission. Chevy touts the new ‘Vette as a major engineering coup, with just a single part as carryover from the seventh generation. The new ‘Vette also gets a new, stiffer frame for improved ride and handling, plus a number of tweaks to improve downforce and aerodynamics. The interior also gets a bunch of new technology and features like performance meters, an all-digital instrument cluster and a choice of six different interior and even seatbelt colors. The choice to go mid-engine means the advent of a Corvette frunk, booyah.

The nice surprise is the starting price just under $60,000. Alas, the UAW strike will make those hoping to buy one wait a little longer, with the production launch now pushed back to February.

The first wave of dedicated EVs

Electric vehicles have been one of the auto industry’s hot topics for years now, but 2019 felt like the year when the industry finally began putting its money where its mouth is. Rather than offering battery-electric versions of existing models, a la the Ford Focus Electric, several mainstream automakers this year served up their first versions of dedicated EV nameplates, if not their first EVs, period.

Interestingly, few followed the template of electrifying sensible small cars to appeal to conscientious tree huggers. Performance crossovers were all the rage. Porsche unleashed the Taycan, Jaguar gave us the I-Pace, Audi unveiled the E-Tron and Mercedes-Benz debuted the EQC, not to mention the Ford Mustang Mach-E and Mazda MX-30, which aren’t yet on sale. Of course, if you like small eco-cars, there’s the adorable (and Europe-only) Honda E, or the Volkswagen ID.3 hatchback. We’ll see whether marrying electrification to performance and luxury swagger can help EVs find more mass acceptance.