Things That Moved Us: Our Favourite Cars (And Other Things) Of 2025

Welcome to SHARP’s annual look back at the things that moved us. No, it’s not the “Car of the Year” awards or anything so turgid. Although you will find plenty of cars on our list — from concepts that illuminate a fresh path forward, to increasingly plush SUVs, to a moon-shot of a car from a brand nobody saw coming — there’s also an instant-classic car chase, an Italian dirt bike pulled straight from our teenage fantasies, a goodbye, a hello, and much, much more. What these things all share, however, is that they moved us — sometimes physically, sometimes emotionally, often both at once — and for that, we salute them. 

Strength To Strength: Jaguar Land Rover Understands Deep-Pocketed Don’t Want To Be Constrained

There’s no need to pretend that 2025 has been an easy year for Jaguar Land Rover, but through it all Range Rover has somehow gone from strength to strength. Most recently, the firm expanded its increasingly popular SV Bespoke program. It’s now available not only on the full-size Range Rover, but on the Range Rover Sport for the first time as well. We’re talking paint-to-sample, two-tone options, precious metal details, custom wood veneers, upholstery, embroidery, and so much more. 

“Our clients are increasingly looking for crafted details and true distinction,” says Martin Limpert, Range Rover’s global managing director. “We have a unique opportunity to build relationships with our clients either in person through Range Rover Houses, our global network of Commissioning Suites or virtually at the client’s convenience. We go on the journey with them to curate and create their dream vehicles.” 

This first Range Rover Sport SV Bespoke example — Nocturne, which was unveiled at Range Rover House Mykonos before being handed over to its lucky owner — only scratches the surface of what’s possible. 

Foreign Concepts: Audi Presents A Path Forward for Avant-Garde Automotives

This is not another concept car. The Audi Concept C, unveiled in fashion-conscious Milan, is a triumphant return to form for a brand that once distinguished itself with sharp, avant-garde design. Machines like the original TT, A7, and R8 turned Audi from a contender into a carmaker that cannot be ignored, one that leads rather than follows. After some lost years, the Concept C shows that Audi, and its rather brilliant new design chief Massimo Frascella, are looking to reclaim that envious position by charting a new path forward.

“Radical simplicity is at the heart of our approach. We achieve clarity by reducing everything to the essential,” Frascella said. “We live in a world that is often shrill, fast-paced, and overloaded. Almost everything is overdone. The danger of losing your way is greater than ever. Our responsibility is to be better and do what really matters. And the outcome always has to be an emotion.”

Vans Strike Back: The Industry’s Van Resurgence Is Led By None Other Than The Geniuses At Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes calls it “a highly elegant chauffeur-driven limousine with a special focus on the ‘Private Lounge’ and the utmost comfort.” Everyone else will look at those sliding doors and that familiar silhouette and call it a minivan. We don’t care what you call it, only that vans are finally staging a low-key comeback after decades — decades! — of being overlooked in favour of SUVs.

The Vision V shows just how far vans could push upmarket, into the luxury space, but Mercedes isn’t alone. Other brands are jumping in on the van thing, too. Chrysler’s made-in-Canada Pacifica minivan has seen a sales surge. Volkswagen’s long-awaited ID. Buzz — the electric reincarnation of the OG VW bus — is an utter delight, like driving an ice-cream sundae. The Korean-market Hyundai Staria minivan looks so cool, it has fans clamouring for the brand to bring it to Canada. The vans are back, baby!

Nostalgia Trip: The New Jeep Cherokee Proves We’re Not The Only Ones Nostalgic For The Boxy Old XJ

Vince Galante, the designer behind the all-new 2026 Jeep Cherokee, has gone on record admitting he was inspired by nostalgic childhood memories of family vacations in his parents’ old XJ-generation Jeep Cherokee. That boxy SUV was deeply aspirational for kids in the ’90s, a symbol of a new kind of mainstream outdoorsy-ness. It hit the market around the same time as Gore-Tex went mainstream, and together they formed a kind of proto-gorpcore aesthetic.

For 2026, the boxy shape of the XJ returns in the all-new Cherokee. It’s the latest in a barrage of square-jawed SUVs that hark back to the genre’s early days. But, apart from its design, the 2026 Cherokee is very much a forward-looking machine. It’s gigantic for a compact SUV, with much improved cargo space, but it still nods toward efficiency with a frugal range of high-tech hybrid engines.

The Moon Shot: If We’ve Learned Anything This Year, It’s That There’s No Limit To Cadillac’s Ambition

The American luxury brand famous for the Escalade, tail fins, monster engines, and 1960s Mad Men–style excess has come roaring back from irrelevance over the past few years and is now looking to once again become the “standard of the world.” Want proof? Look at the sales stats: earlier this year, Cadillac was the best-selling luxury EV brand in both the U.S. and Canada. Want more proof? Cadillac is making a high-risk, high-reward play by jumping into Formula One with its own team starting in 2026. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The brand electrified its flagship Escalade, and is gunning for Rolls-Royce with the $495,000 CELESTIQ sedan. They’re offering up the only six-speed manual, V8-engined sports sedan in the game: the CT5-V Blackwing. And the design team keeps raising the bar. (Case in point: the Elevated Velocity Concept.) Cadillac is so back.

The Game-Changer: Rouven Mohr, Chief Technical Officer For Lamborghini, On The Temerario’s Groundbreaking 10,000-Rpm Twin-Turbo V8

Lamborghini’s new engine didn’t need to rev to 10,000 rpm, Mohr tells us. He and his engineers could’ve got to a similar power figure (789 hp) from a cheaper, traditional, low-revving turbo engine, where drivers ride the low-end torque and shift-up early — “like a diesel,” Mohr says with derision. But no, he wanted the Temerario to have a 10,000 rpm banshee that begs drivers to spin it to the red line every time, just like a naturally aspirated engine. “The new engine is double the cost of the old [V10] even before you add all the hybrid stuff,” Mohr added. Is it worth it? Hell yes.

Designed Enthusiasm: Bugatti’s Design Director on the One-Off Coach-Built Brouillard, the Company’s New Golden Era, & A Dream of His

“I’m in my 18th year [at Bugatti]. I think I’ve survived four CEOs and, in all honesty, it’s never been this good,” the company’s director of design, Frank Heyl, tells us. “We are just really crazy about cars, and we now get to live out this craziness. And I think you can see it also in the products; it’s just not only a job. This is a passion, this is fun. This is really what we love to do. And you see that love, I think.

“I have two daughters. Maybe they will have children one day. And maybe, you know, I can walk the lawn of some Concours d’Elegance with my grandchildren, and show them what granddaddy had been working on back in the day. So, that’s the vision,” Heyl says. “I don’t know, maybe it never happens, but it’s a dream of mine.”

The Speed of Time

Two watches that make us feel like off-duty race car drivers.