Because until now, the steady march of electric cars – like the rise of the machines in a Terminator movie – has been painfully relentless. Ever since Elon Musk launched the Tesla Model S back in 2012, we’ve been brainwashed into thinking that internal-combustion engines are toast and – certainly if you’re in the UK – we’ll all be driving washing machines and fridges by 2030.

Maybe you can detect I’m an EV sceptic? In fact, certain developments in 2024 made me realise my position is not that simple. Some new EVs have shown that they don’t have to be drab, sterile white goods with all the humanity of a Duracell battery. At the beginning of the year, Hyundai axed its petrol hot hatches in Europe, which was a shame because its sporty N badge had won a lot of fans; but then a few months later it made amends by launching the ludicrous Ioniq 5 N.

With its synthetic engine noise, a simulated gearbox and more power than a McLaren F1 (a brain-squidging 641bhp) it should have been a silly plastic decoy, as satisfying as owning a house in Facebook’s Metaverse. In fact, the 5 N is so convincing, it elicits a Pavlovian response in car enthusiasts, like a dog being offered a treat: you just can’t help but bark with joy as you power up through the ‘gears’ to the sound of that ‘throaty exhaust gargle’. Woof!

Porsche also launched its electric Macan, its first fully electric SUV. Despite being blighted by the nonsensical ‘Turbo’ badge – as fake as that ‘throaty exhaust gargle’ I was talking about – the Macan is fast, with sharp handling and blessed with a gorgeous contemporary interior. It’s arguably every bit as compelling as the outgoing petrol version – especially the rear-drive, base-spec, 355bhp version, which we liked very much when we drove it in October.

But it wasn’t all high-horsepower high jinx, because 2024 was also significant for the breakthrough in cheaper electric cars, mostly thanks to Renault. Renault-owned Dacia unveiled a UK-market version of its electric Spring, now the cheapest EV you can buy, at £14,995. Its minimalist cost-cutting is admirable, and the tiny battery, 44bhp and modern interior won plaudits as the back-to-basics urban EV we’ve been waiting for. However, riding on wheels so skinny they could slice up a pizza, and wearing Chinese Linglong tyres, the handling is more wayward than an empty crisp packet in Storm Bert.

But Renault went one further by also unveiling the new electric Renault 5. Replacing the bland Zoe, the chunky, purposeful 5 is based on a brand new EV platform but designed to resemble the 1972 classic supermini, with its sloping rear and cheeky cartoon headlights. Priced at £23k, it’s arguably exactly the car we needed to crack that all-important next phase of the electric revolution.

Only… will it? The year 2024 also saw the tide turn against EVs in a way that brought the whole revolution (certainly the pace of it) into question. Tesla sales fell for the first time since 2013, VW announced it would close factories and lay off workers as EV demand slumped across Europe, and used prices for electric cars plummeted, causing a jittery market to jitter even more.

Tavares ended up abruptly leaving Stellantis at the end of the year, due to him holding what were politely called ‘different views’ to the board (I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in THAT meeting).

But he was not alone in thinking that European governments are harming themselves for what Italian PM Georgia Meloni described as ‘ideological madness’. The German and Italian governments both pushed back in September, asking the EU to reconsider its 2035 ban on petrol and diesel car sales. It was now ‘certain’ that this ban would not be achieved, Adolfo Urso, the Italian industry minister, said in Brussels in September, and it was creating a ‘grave crisis’ for European car makers.

In the midst of this self-flagellating turmoil you’d think the Chinese car makers would be feeling very smug, but 2024 was a pretty bad year from them too. Some green campaigners hoped that emerging Chinese brands like BYD, Omodo and Skywell would swoop into the UK, Europe and the US and ‘save the day’ with their affordable but utterly derivative, soulless electric cars. But sentiment also turned against China in 2024, with security fears about its connected-car technology being ‘weaponisd’ and then Trump of course. Trump, with his hawkish views and his Chinese-tariff trash-talk.

So someone definitely turned on the house lights and pulled the plug on the electric-car disco in 2024, and for the first time there was a question mark over the inevitability of the future. Maybe we won’t all be driving EVs, after all? Maybe petrol and diesel will last longer than we thought? Maybe e-fuels and hydrogen will replace them in the long run? Maybe John Connor will travel back in time and destroy Cyberdyne Systems before Skynet becomes self-aware?

And what did the car manufacturers themselves do, in 2024, to address all this uncertainty and gloom? They seem to have followed the maxim, ‘When in doubt, build a massive V12.’ Aston Martin launched a new V12 in 2024… Ferrari launched a new V12… and Lamborghini also launched a new V12. The first two – the twin-turbo Vanquish and the 6.5-litre Ferrari 12 Cilindri – are both, in a way, modern-but-old-school; the Revuelto, however, is more radical. By combining a brand new 6.5-litre V12 with a battery and three electric motors, one for the front axle, one for each rear wheel, the new Lamborghini shows how green tech can be subverted for evil, as well as saintly environmental work.

The resulting Revuelto offers a power increase of 30 per cent and a CO2 reduction of 35 percent compared to the outgoing Aventador. Quite an achievement – Greta Thunberg must be thrilled – but the good news is that it’s every bit as loud, brash and brilliant as you’d hope it to be. A real bruiser of a supercar, the Revuelto is astonishingly quick and surprisingly agile, despite weighing (with fluids) nearly two tonnes. It’s one of the automotive triumphs of the year.

Of course it wasn’t all gas-guzzling V12s. McLaren showed us that light weight still matters with the sensational 750S, blisteringly quick and as agile as a cat. Bentley ditched its V12 to go V8 hybrid for its new Continental GT; and Ferrari… well, Ferrari followed up the magnificent 12 Cilindri with the new F80 hypercar with… oh dear, a 3.0-litre V6 hybrid. Early signs are it sounds like a Hyundai synthetic noise generator.

That wasn’t the biggest disappointment of the year, though – that honour lies in the fact that the ‘holy trinity’ of 2013 won’t be repeated. McLaren played its part with the gobsmacking W1 hypercar, Ferrari got its F80 lined up and ready to play, but where was Porsche, and a replacement for the 918? Probably too busy developing the 647th iteration of the 911 GT3 RS.

Thankfully Aston stepped up with the mid-engined, 1000bhp-plus Valhalla, a lovely Christmas present for us all at the beginning of December.

So petrol definitely wasn’t taking it lying down in 2024, and while EVs will no doubt come back strong and crush us all underfoot in the remorseless march towards total domination over the human spirit by 2035, the year was a great one for engine enthusiasts everywhere. Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren… oh, and Stihl revamped its popular MS400C-M forestry chainsaw, now 300g lighter with the same power output – making it the highest power-to-weight ratio of any professional chainsaw on the market.

Let’s celebrate the small wins, eh?