With sales of almost one million units since its debut in 2000, the Toyota Prius is an unqualified success and Toyota can hardly be blamed for looking at ways to expand the Prius’ appeal to new customers. Which is exactly what we saw Toyota do at this year’s Detroit Auto Show. Read more…
Late in the summer of 2010 BMW teased the automotive world with photos of their 6 Series Coupe Concept. Today, BMW made the unusual move of introducing the production 6 Series convertible without having officially shown us the production coupe first. Regardless of the semantics, BMW was willing to divulge just a few of the juicy details on their newest model. Read more…
Porsche is one of the enduring leaders in motorsports and the German sports-car manufacturer chose to return to this year’s Detroit Auto Show, its first appearance in four years, to debut its most advanced racer yet. Read more…
Unlike the upset in 2010 when the rudimentary Ford Transit Connect was named North American Truck of the Year, the selection of the 2011 Ford Explorer as this year’s winner came as a surprise to almost no one. The ‘is it an SUV or is it a crossover’ three-row family hauler proves to be a game changer for Ford’s once best-selling model. With votes divided between the corporate twins Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango it rightly seemed that the Explorer was a shoe in for the Truck of the Year honors. Read more…
With its designation as 2011 North American Car of the Year the Chevrolet Volt has added yet another award to its trophy case. Up against the fully electric but limited range Nissan Leaf and the wonderful but conventional Hyundai Sonata, the Volt proves to be the most original car to be introduced in quite some time. We’re eager to get our hands on this new extended range electric vehicle to see how it stacks up in the real world. We’re betting there are plenty of consumers who are eager to try this new mode of transportation out for themselves. Read more…
It’s not often that our busy schedules align to allow all three editors to get together in one spot, but the 2011 Detroit Auto Show is an event we don’t miss. Which is why your humble commentators are holed up high above Detroit surrounded by half a Best Buy’s worth of electronics and burning through a small country’s allotment of bandwidth in anticipation of the deluge of auto news coming out of the Motor City over the next few days. We cleared a few minutes from our schedule to talk about what we’re anticipating most from tomorrow’s show and to go on record with who we think will walk away with North American Car and Truck of the Year honors. It’s all after the jump.
It’s the eve of the 2011 North American International Auto Show and the AT Editorial Team has descended on the Motor City to set up camp just blocks from Cobo Hall. Executive Editor Dye just pulled out the corporate credit card to let the staff feast on endless pizza and root beer. Yes, this is truly the good life! And in preparation for the big day we figured it would be fitting to provide our curious readers a taste of what’s to come. Click through for a preview gallery and then stop back later tonight for a special edition Automotive Trends PODCAST for our last minute thoughts and predictions before we hit the show floor tomorrow morning at 5:30AM! Was that root beer caffeine free?!
UPDATE: Since we posted this, Volkswagen has seen fit to break cover with a pair of photos of the 2012 Passat. We’ve included them in the gallery. Read more…
The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder, but car cruise season hasn’t come to an end yet. Tag along with us as we exercise the digital SLR on all the shiny metal that showed up for the 2010 Faith Missionary Church Car Show in Flushing, Michigan. Bonus points to the reader that spots the Automotive Trends’ feature car. Better grab a snack, this gallery is extensive! Read more…
Michigan’s Little Bavaria puts on quite a show for the classic car enthusiast. The Frankenmuth Auto Fest is a three day festival dedicated to the celebration of the classic automobile. Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided to put on a pretty good show as well. Just as your trusty auto scribes were making their way to the show, the skies opened up and poured out their abundance. Determined not to come away empty-handed, Gernand and I pressed on and managed to snap a few shots from the show before the digital SLR had to be stowed for fear of excess moisture accumulation. So grab your galoshes and raincoat and wade through our gallery. It’s worth it! Read more…
Overcast skies failed to stop dreamers from cruising Woodward. Nor did it keep our own Design Editor from hitting M1 (Woodward Avenue) in his ’68 Cadillac. Grab a snack and enjoy the gallery. You don’t even have to get wet. Read more…
