Ask the numerous failed car companies if launching a new automaker is an easy task. So far Fisker Automotive has been exception, getting a lot farther than most independent automakers ever do. Fisker has survived through some difficult economic times in the United States. They haven’t been without problems though – the Fisker Karma began [...]
A long-wheelbase BMW 3-Series? Early April fools joke, right? No it isn’t a joke – not in China, the land where all kinds of unique automotive creations exist. It is well-known that China is the land of long-wheelbase models; the raft of these models introduced at the Beijing Auto Show has been a testament to [...]
The Geneva Motor Show isn’t until next month, but we’ve seen a few debuts come out ahead of the show. Don’t you love auto show season? In the United States it kicks off with Los Angeles in November and ends with New York in April. Next week is the Chicago show, which claims to be [...]
In the luxury market you have the established, well-defined manufacturers like BMW and Mercedes-Benz, and to a bit lesser extent Audi and Lexus. Infiniti has always tried to find its niche. What it lacks at the moment is a flagship or halo model. The 7-Series does the job of a flagship at BMW and the [...]
People will often pay through their nose to be the first to have something. In the technology industry it is called being an early-adopter – and you definitely pay to be one. With cars, Concours d’Elegance shows and auctions like Barrett Jackson in Arizona usually offer a chance to be first. Sometimes a catalog like [...]
On again, off again. Such has been the status of the Volkswagen BlueSport Concept. Last month the project was said to be on hold. Volkswagen engineering head Uli Hackenberg spoke to Autocar about this. He said the engineering work was all done, but the problem was finding sales numbers. He said sales volumes weren’t adding [...]
Who are the Huet Brothers? We’ll forgive you if you haven’t heard of them before; it’s the same situation here. They are a company based in the Netherlands (two brothers, as their name implies) that is making a splash with their just-announced Coupe model. They’ve made a throwback (and we mean really throwback, no retro [...]
Since the Paris Auto Show in 2010, Lotus has been talking up big plans. It is part of a plan by Chief Executive Officer Dany Bahar to make the company profitable. For years, Lotus has been owned by Malaysian company Proton, and during that time it has never turned a profit. The Lotus name is [...]