Renault was quick to notice the trend towards crossover SUVs. Back in 2013 it brought out the Captur, which was just a little bit more of a car than a subcompact. The current version of the off-roader makes the dash to 100 km/h in 11.4 seconds.

The Mercedes AMG GTR is the street version of the GT3 racecar. Its new four-liter twin-turbo V8 yields a hefty 430 kW, and it makes the sprint to 100 km/h in just 3.6 seconds. With DTM World Champion Bernd Schneider we put the mango-green standout through its paces on the Bilster Berg racetrack.

The Hyundai i30 has been wooing compact drivers for three generations now. Today they hold their own against the European competition in both design and engineering. The i30 was created at Hyundai's European Design Center in Rüsselsheim.

Souped-up city car: the GTI edition of the VW up! The beast of the Bilster Berg: the Mercedes AMG GT R out on the track. Plus: From Cinderella to princess: the metamorphosis of the Hyundai i30.

Facelifted: the Honda Fit. Sleek and loaded: the fourth-generation Mercedes A-Class. As powerful as its name is long: the Porsche Panamera Turbo S e-Hybrid Sports Turismo. A touch of British class: the Morris Oxford.

One of the smallest Hondas, the Fit, aka the Jazz, has had a facelift for 2018. It now offers a new trim line called the Dynamic. It adds a bit of pizzazz and, under the hood, a little extra pep in the form of a 1.5-liter, 96-kW I-VTEC engine.

Mercedes has brought out a new version of its compact A Class, the fourth generation. It is pretty much all new, designed from scratch. And it is a direct challenge to the Volkswagen Golf, market leader in the compact class.

Porsche rolled out a plug-in hybrid version of its Panamera some time ago. Now, they've followed up with a new model called the Panamera turbo S e-hybrid Sport Turismo. And it packs a whopping 680 horsepower and the longest name of any Porsche ever.

The Skoda Karoq and the Seat Ateca are based on a single platform. So what distinguishes the compact SUVs from each other? They look a bit different and the Karoq has a fancier infotainment system.

Electric cars are growing popular. An important thing to consider with these cars is their range, which is largely determined by their batteries. DW took VW's second-generation e-Golf for a spin to see how it holds up. What's been improved?