Joe DeMatio

Fifty years ago, BMW introduced the 3 Series, an overdue successor to its well-regarded 2002 sports sedan. Its debut coincided with the establishment of the Munich automaker’s American sales arm, BMW of North America. From these tenuous beginnings, the little BMW launched an automotive franchise that profoundly influenced the product plans of global automakers—and our very definition of how a sporty car should feel.

As I stepped out my front door the other morning and found a 2025 Santa Cruz that Hyundai’s handlers had delivered to my driveway, a flood of memories rushed through my head. They were not from 2021, when the Santa Cruz debuted as a 2022 model, and not even from 2015, when Hyundai unveiled the Santa Cruz concept, teasing the possibility of a stylish and sporty mini-pickup for production. Nope.

The 2025 Acura ADX subcompact crossover was dropped off at the Hagerty Media offices just a couple of days after the $1 million sale of a 2003 Acura NSX-R at a fancy auction in Italy. We spend a lot of time thinking about automotive heritage and provenance here at Hagerty, no surprise, and the occasion of the first seven-figure sale of a product from Honda’s luxury brand had me reflecting on the Acura brand.