There are a lot of current trends in the automotive industry that enthusiasts wish would disappear. Even though it seems like we're moving towards a world where the roads will be filled with boring, autonomous pods, there are still a lot of things that are happening right now that enthusiasts can be thankful for. Since Thanksgiving is coming up, we wanted to think about the five industry trends that make us happy. If these trends continue into next year, 2018 should be a pretty good year for the enthusiast community.
Modern sports cars are moving away from tradition with turbochargers, automatic transmissions, and advanced driver's aids. Although these things have all been added in the pursuit of speed, they can take away from the pure driving experience. Purists like driving a very basic sort of car, which is why certain manufacturers have started to build cars just to suit this market. Just this year alone Porsche has revealed the lightest 911 on the market, the 911 T. The company has also revealed the GT3 Touring Package, which deletes the wing and comes with a manual transmission. We love that Porsche continues to recognize that cars like this still have a place in the world.
2017 may be known as the year of affordable electric vehicles. Chevy started selling its Bolt EV earlier this year, and Tesla has announced its long awaited affordable sedan, the Model 3. Even though Model 3 deliveries haven't started yet, this is a trend we hope will accelerate in 2018. We haven't been too thrilled with the previous crop of EV models, which were mainly built to please the US government. EVs are starting to reach a point where they are nearly as affordable and practical as their gas-engined counterparts. Tesla has changed the game for EVs, but the Model S and Model X are only affordable for the wealthy elite. We can't wait to see more affordable EVs flood the market.
This year, we wanted to put a spotlight on a few automakers that seem to be trending in the right direction. Hyundai and Kia have been wowing us with performance models like the i30N and the Stinger. Alfa Romeo is also starting to gain traction in the US, which makes us very happy. One trend that we are really hopeful for is Toyota's commitment to stop being boring. The company has released some cool concept cars of late. We know that Toyota is capable of building cool cars that are also reliable. The new Supra is on its way, and even the new Camry now has over 300 hp. We are very excited to see Toyota continue on this path in 2018.
Toyota has made a promise to start building interesting cars, but clearly the Japanese automaker must learn from the best, FCA. While other automakers are scrambling to introduce 2.0-liter turbos, crossovers, and hybrids, FCA is busy stuffing its 707-hp Hellcat engine into more of its models. FCA doesn't really have any highly ranked small models with turbocharged engines. Instead, the company seems content with marketing its high-powered muscle cars. Who needs fuel economy when you have over 700 hp? The Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk is the latest Hellcat-powered model, bringing the experience to the whole family.
Even though the vast majority of people care about mpg over mph, certain automakers are still putting a ton of development dollars into their performance divisions. Even though we may not necessarily want to buy every model in the Mercedes lineup, we simply love the fact that almost all of them are available with a high-powered AMG version. BMW is not too far behind with increasing the number of M models that it sells and Audi has finally decided to offer more RS model in the US. We love seeing that the three German automakers still care about performance, and are thankful that companies like Hyundai and Ford are joining the performance car game.