We had to start with the Supra. The new A90-gen car, revealed five years after the first concept, ends a 17-year drought for the Supra nameplate. The new car owes a lot under the skin to BMW, but it’s still a straight-six, rear-drive coupe.

Ten years ago, the reborn hero limelight was on Nissan, as the long gestation of the R35 GT-R came to an end. Twin-turbocharged, AWD and festooned with screens and tech, the only trope it was missing was the ‘Skyline’ part of the name.

The first Panda lasted from 1980 to 1996 in the UK. Instead of making the next one a retro cash-in, Fiat brought it back in 2003 as a cheap, practical, no-nonsense micro-MPV. It too was a hit.

The first-gen Giulia (1962–1978) was pretty, had zesty engines up front driving the rear wheels, and was good fun to hustle. So, when Alfa came up with a proper rear-drive BMW 3 Series rival in 2015, the obvious name choice beckoned.

Unlike the Ford Mustang, which had far too many sequels, the Charger had the good sense to die off in 1974 (we won’t talk about the hideously embarrassing rebadged Mitsubishi version in the Eighties) and returned triumphant in 2011.

The Scirocco was killed off in 1992 after only two generations. In 2008 VW gave us a rebodied, low-slung Golf GTI resurrection, but the depressing crossover craze means it’s now being shelved in favour of the hopelessly mediocre T-Roc.

It’s all gone ominously quiet at TVR of late, but boss Les Edgar insists the car will get over the line. The 500bhp, £90k V8 coupe harks back to the Rover-engined Griffith of the Nineties – which reinvigorated TVR for a booming decade.

Our 2018 Performance Car of the Year stays true to evergreen values of bijou size, low weight, medium grip and sky-high attention to detail. A fitting tribute to a car that first arrived in 1961, and dominated rallying in the early Seventies.

Twice, Ford has shoved the GT40’s DNA in a modern emulator and created a modern supercar. First in 2003, with the supercharged V8 GT to celebrate 100 years of Ford, and in 2013, with the V6 GT – an aerohoned racecar with numberplates.