18 years have passed since Autocar assembled its original ‘100 Most Beautiful Cars’ list and new cars have also been launched in this fresh century at a frenetic rate as manufacturers race to fill niches opened by crossovers and alternative powertrains.

New firms have arrived, too, and not all of them from the small industrial units of underfunded hopefuls. Let’s take a look at our current best – and feature as much original Autocar photography as we can: