As you may have already heard, Detroit's annual auto show wasn't exactly a reenactment of Rio de Janeiro's Carnaval as far as flash and excitement goes. No, it was a bit of a sleeper considering its thoroughly entertaining past. Still, for the Big 3 January's North American International Auto Show nevertheless remains the quintessential home show that saw each automaker pull out all the stops... well at least all the stops currently available for pulling. For the second year in a row, General Motors’ Cadillac division showed up at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit with a two-door sports coupe, although compared to the performance-oriented CTS Coupe Concept that stole the hearts and minds of automotive pundits last year, mine included, the Converj Concept measures its performance in miles per gallon and tailpipe emissions.  more...

I remember when I was a young man wanting a car to reflect my young urban professional lifestyle I bought a BMW. My first was a Bavaria 3.0S sedan, a great car that met an unfortunate end. I replaced this with a 528e, to this day probably the best car I’ve ever owned, and I’ve had some wonderful rides. I mean best in that it performed flawlessly up until and beyond 418,000 km, after which I kept seeing it blasting around town well past 500,000 in the hands of the friend I sold it to. I wouldn’t expect a modern-day BMW to deliver such stellar long-term reliability, although I’m not saying that it couldn’t, it’s just that the 528e is legendary for bulletproof operation.  more...

For those who think that the North American International Auto Show in Detroit was a total sleeper, with some of the biggest players in the auto industry deciding not even to show up, it still was home to some significant introductions.  more...

If you’re a muscle car fan, the 2009 North American International Auto Show being held in Detroit as this story goes to press was a snooze-fest. OK, there were a few introductions that leaned more towards performance than economical and environmental, but overall it was the Age of Electricity revisited. Electrified versions of tiny sports cars, luxury coupes, SUVs and top-tier luxury models hit the various stages in Cobo Hall, as did a little white and gold microdot that Toyota calls the FT-EV.  more...

Without getting too far ahead of ourselves with a car that is just now becoming available on a global scale, it hardly takes much imagination to come up with ways to modify Kia’s new Soul to appeal to different age groups and lifestyles. It’s just one of those types of cars that could underpin anything from a full convertible to a rough and ready off-roader, or at least an off-road look-a-like, something like this Soul’ster Concept that adds a little bit of open-top 4x4 styling to the production Soul’s sassy people moving character.  more...

When some trends catch on, they really stick. And the latest fascination in the automotive sector is with an entirely new kind of crossover: the combination of sedans and coupes. We’ve gone on at length about four-door coupes in these pages, with road tests of the most affordable Volkswagen Passat CC to previews of what is potentially the priciest, Lamborghini’s Estoque, now only in conceptual form. Aston Martin’s new four-door Rapide won’t be inexpensive either, or for that matter Porsche’s controversially shaped Panamera, and neither is the one that started it all off, Mercedes’ CLS, although Henrik Fisker’s stunningly gorgeous Karma will not only be one of the greenest without losing anything in performance to its European rivals, it’ll offer near bespoke exclusivity for a mainstream price.  more...

For being quite literally on the opposite side of the world, and for driving on the opposite side of the road, Australia and America have pretty similar ideas when it comes to making cars. Check out Ford of Australia or Holden, and the domestically designed and built stuff, the vehicles that drip with the big-block, easy-going charm of the land Down Under would be perfectly at home here. Take the Holden Monaro, which translated with ease into the US-only Pontiac GTO. Likewise, the Holden Commodore SS V-Series equates to the Pontiac G8.  more...