Automotive Trends

      Happy Independence Day from the Editors of Automotive Trends!!

      The Chevrolet Volt is probably one of the most hotly anticipated vehicle launches of this decade, and GM is set to deliver on its promise of having the Volt on the road by 2010. That plan is to roll out 10,000 Volts by the end of calendar year 2011, with another 30,000 Volts to follow in 2012. The first units will be available to California, Washington D.C, Austin, Texas and the New York metropolitan areas yet this year. Michigan, New Jersey, Connecticut, and the balance of Texas and New York will start receiving units in the first quarter of 2011. The rest of the USA will have to wait about a year for production to ramp up. To make sure that GM’s dealer network is ready for the Volt, GM is requiring special sales and service training, as well as the installation of a 240-volt charging station before a dealership can receive a Volt for retail sale. As with any good thing in life, I guess some things are just worth waiting for. We’ll let you know when we get our first go with a production spec Volt! Read more…

      The Audi Le Mans Concept car, on display at the 2004 NAIAS, was very appropriately named for that little endurance race that Audi tends to win now and then. The Le Mans plainly signaled what the production R8 sports car would look like, sans show car specific LED headlamps. The structure was composed of an aluminum space frame wrapped in carbon fiber and alumiunm body panels. Powering the concept was a 40-valve twin-turbocharged 5.0L FSI V10 cranking out 602-hp and 533 lb-ft of torque. Channelling the power to all four wheels (quattro) was the six-speed sequential manual gearbox from the Lamborghini Gallardo.

     It’s been a few weeks since the gang last chimed in but we’ve got plenty to say in Episode 6 as we chat about video games, minivans, cars that grow with every revision and why 510hp can make a leather-lined luxury tank seem worth its $100k asking price. Senior Editor Muxlow may have spent much of the podcast with farm machinery on the brain–we think his recent lawn mower purchase is to blame–but at the end of the 54 minutes cars still ruled the day. So click through and never fear: we’ll get Muxlow back on his meds and return next week with even more useless banter. Read more…

       2006 Ford GT

       Happy Father’s Day from the Editors of Automotive Trends!!!

      Don’t be looking to do any serious rock crawling with this SUV. Land Rover’s new parent company Tata sees that there is money to be made by offering a soft-roading lower-riding and generally more fuel-efficient crossover. The LRX Concept, shown here at the 2008 NAIAS, may carry a few styling cues from its big brother Range Rover but the similarities stop there. The base offering will be front-wheel drive with all-wheel drive available. Engine offerings haven’t been announced yet, but we know that Land Rover is working on a diesel hybrid system, though no telling as to whether or not this setup will make the trip across the big pond to the US given our hesitancy to accept diesels.

      While Chevrolet decided to go electric in a practical manner with the compact Volt sedan, Dodge went for broke and based their EV (shown here at the 2009 NAIAS) on a Lotus Europa S. Sadly, we won’t see this vehicle come to fruition as the Fiat partnership has dissolved the Chrysler ENVI electric initiative altogether. With a claimed 150 to 200 mile range the Circuit EV was within spitting distance of another Lotus based EV sports car, the Tesla roadster, when its batteries finally decided to take a rest.  The Circuit’s lithium-ion battery pack combined with the 200-kW motor could output 268-hp and an instant 480 lb-ft of torque. None too shabby for a green bean!

      Today is the 2010 Brown City Days Car Cruise and as such your AT faithful are out burning petroleum by the barrel driving around in a 1967 Rambler Ambassador convertible. We’ll be bringing you pictures from the show later today, but pictured above is the pair of boulevard brawlers we managed to pull together for the 2006 BC Car Cruise. Yeah they are a bit mismatched, but they sure caught everyone’s attention. The Saturn Sky won the beauty contest that day while the Mazdaspeed6 fascinated onlookers with its hidden talents (namely a turbocharged 2.3L).

      The Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé is slowly and elegantly revealed to a crowd of journalists at the 2007 NAIAS. The Drophead Coupé styled after and remained remarkably true to the 2004 100EX Concept. Its list of features is a mile long, but some of the notables include a stainless steel hood, grille, and A-pillar, rearward opening coach doors and a teak deck to cover the convertible top when it’s stowed. Underhood is a 6.75L V12 featuring direct injection. With 453-hp and 531 lb-ft of torque on tap the Drophead Coupé is capable of hitting 60 mph in under 6 seconds.

      Alright, I admit my lamenting over the loss of Mercury has led me to dig into the photo archives to dig up what we have on Ford’s middle brand. And what you see above is probably our favorite from the past 20 years. The 2003 Mercury Marauder. Available only in Henry’s favorite color (black) that year, the Marauder turned heads riding on 18″ chromed wheels. This Grand-Marquis-gone-midlife-crisis featured smoked head and taillamps, chromed dual exhaust tips and a unique 5-passenger seating arrangement complete with additional gauges and center console mounted shifter. Under the hood was a 32-valve 4.6L V8 producing 302-hp and 318 lb-ft of torque. The 4-speed auto that was coupled to this motor was a bit lazy and likewise the acceleration times, but this car’s token was its presence and an exhaust note that was piped right out of the ’60s.