Unlike with the Car of the Year “surprise” (we incorrectly predicted the Passat) the North American Truck of the Year award actually went to the vehicle your humble editors expected. The Land Rover Range Rover Evoque simply advances the entire luxury crossover segment to stylish new heights unmatched by the other finalists to be ignored by the judges. Awkwardly enough, Jaguar/Land Rover didn’t choose to participate in this year’s NAIAS so they won’t be able to brag about their new award to the 800,000 people expected to attend the upcoming public show. Oops.
One of the most anticipated industry awards is the annual North American Car and Truck of the Year awards. The title is highly coveted by automakers due in no small part to the proprietary nature of the voting by 50 journalists from the United States and Canada. The Hyundai Elantra beat out the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Passat to take the 2012 award even though your humble editors had publicly predicted a Passat victory. Though photos and video of the 2011 Elantra were mistakenly displayed as a Hyundai executive accepted the award, make no mistake that the 2012 Elantra is a car that appears to be deserving of the accolades. Read more…
Properly covering an International Auto Show requires a lot of hardware and the AT Crew brought enough gadgets to produce a 24-hour cable news channel. Unfortunately the show doesn’t open until tomorrow and we’ve got things to say today so we repurposed our hotel suite into a makeshift soundstage and set the camera rolling. We highlight some of the expected stars of the show and go on the record with our predictions for North American Car and Truck of the Year in the best 36 minutes you’ve ever seen produced in a hotel living room.
Normally we’d be asking for sympathy as we setup residence in the winter wonderland of Detroit to cover the North American International Auto Show, but truth be told the temperatures this year are mild and there isn’t a snowflake to be found. But even if a blizzard descended there’s no place we’d rather be since the annual kick-off to auto show season always delivers the stunning concepts and fresh production debuts we crave. We’re expecting a good show this year as the automakers close the books on a resurgent 2011 and look forward to a growing market this year. Tomorrow we’ll be onsite bringing you all the pictures, news and video you’ve come to expect from us, but for tonight here’s a preview of what’s to come. Read more…
Stand by because the heroes of automotive banter are back in front of the video camera. In our season premiere we cover GM’s hotly anticipated new vehicle of the century: the Chevrolet Volt. We would be remiss to give it all away here, but in a nut shell, the boys are smitten. Read more…
It has been a good year for car cruises and the September Faith Missionary Church Car Show in Flushing, Michigan was no exception. Thank you to all who came out to enjoy the warm sunshine, great fellowship, sweet music and some exceptional examples of the automotive industry’s finest! Check out our extensive photo gallery of all the classic rides!
By now you’ve read all about what the 2011 BMW 1M Coupe is capable of. The 1M is an amazing machine. So when a friend of Automotive Trends decided he needed to add a 1M to his collection we were more than willing to tag along, document, and aid in its retrieval from the BMW Performance Center in Greer, SC. On its maiden voyage home to Michigan we stopped by the Tail of the Dragon for a bit of fun. More in depth coverage is coming, but the raw footage above pretty much speaks for itself. Enjoy.
Executive Editor Brandon Dye takes the 2011 Chevrolet Volt out for a spin. He also gives a little tutorial on how to charge up your range-extended electric vehicle. Read more…
It looked as though Mother Nature was about to give us the shaft. The 2011 Thumb Area Soybean Festival started with a “bang” of thunder at 7:30 in the morning. But before our spirits could get too soden, the downpour ceased, the clouds cleared, and we had another beautiful day in Brown City, Mi drooling at all the classic metal (even a Travco Motor home) rolling through town. Click through for our gallery of the cars that made an appearance at the show! Read more…
We couldn’t have asked for a better day. The sun was shining, the air was warm and the cars were streaming in! Thank you to all who participated in this year’s June car show at Faith Missionary Church in Flushing, Michigan. Hope to see you again in September! Click through for our extensive gallery. Read more…
