Car Throttle

Here's some potentially interesting news out of Auburn Hills: Chrysler and Lancia might be merging. Hm, just what would that look like? Portholes on the side of the next Thema or some such? Or could it go the other way? Could there be re-badged Lancias soon rolling around the streets of Iowa? For example, consider the un-named Chrysler Lancia from this year's Detroit Auto Show pictured here. Nothing that would prevent that car from looking good in a Chrysler dealer showroom or parked down at the strip mall, now is there. England's AutoCar magazine reports that nameless Chrysler Lancia, which is really a re-bodied Lancia Delta might actually be headed for production. And add to that the reports from Fiat's boss Sergio Marchionne saying that

With the whole "Breakthrough" program, Cadillac started to make some real progress. It began a renaissance of new cars that started with the CTS. The 2005 STS proved to be a miss, but the actual product was highly impressive. Despite being positioned wrongly versus the 3-Series, the fact that it was a good product seemed to make up for it. Then the front-wheel drive SRX crossover followed, begging the question if Cadillac was really going to be a BMW competitor or a Lexus competitor? Enthusiasts hopes were further dashed when word came that Cadillac would be making its flagship vehicle based on the a FWD platform. Enter, the XTS Platinum Concept. It seems like Cadillac is listening - instead of FWD, the XTS Platinum is instead all-wheel drive,

Perhaps I'd gotten my hopes up a bit too much for this one. The concept of the Honda CR-Z sounded brilliant: tiny short-wheelbase two-seater, electric motor assist, 6-speed manual transmission, basically a combination of Honda economy and reliability with a bit of funkiness and fun-to-drive. But I'm just not so sure.  The production CR-Z debuted at NAIAS yesterday, and I don't quite think they've perfected the formula.  I'll get the bad parts off the table first: the CR-Z has a total of 122bhp, yet with a stick shift it only manages to attain an average of 33mpg on the US cycle.  For a car this small with this little power, I was sort of expecting fuel mileage numbers starting with a 50, not a 30.  If I

Ford has had quite a past few months for product and overall progress. Ford Fusion has received the Car of the Year award from Motor Trend, the production Fiesta was introduced as well as other new things like the return of the 5.0-liter Mustang. Now at the North American International Auto Show, fresh of Car and Truck of the Year wins with the Fusion and Transit Connect, Ford turns its attention to the Lincoln brand with the new 2011 Lincoln MKX. This is update is what is known as a Mid-Cycle Refresh (MCE). The MKX is getting updated significantly, with a new look to match the brand's recent direction. The MKS, MKT and MKZ show this new design philosophy from Lincoln. The look is characterized by the large

E-Tron, E-Tron, E-Tron - Audi wants everyone to know it is serious about electric vehicles. The rumored "electric R8" was first shown in Frankfurt as the E-Tron, which was clearly a concept. Despite looking quite similar to the Audi R8, it is actually not based on that car. After that, it came out that Audi greenlighted production. Now, a new car is showing up in Detroit. E-Tron, is that you? Not the same way as we saw it before. This time, instead of a mid-engined layout, the E-Tron comes back with a Gran Turismo-like configuration. The design sets the E-Tron further away from the R8 and, according to Audi, has practical implications as well. The latest concepts drives the rear wheels using two electric motors instead

It's been a long time since VW marketed a Jetta coupe. There's been a smattering of VW 2-doors (Scirocco, Corrado) and a whole bunch of hatches, but there hasn't been a 2-door 4-seat coupe in the lineup since the 80's (since you can't actually count the Corrado's rear seats.  C'mon.)  And despite the current (and gorgeous) Scirroco being on sale in Europe, VW decided that the US market needs something else with two doors so as not to cannibalize GTI sales.  Which are pretty strong. This is the New Coupe Concept, but you can just called it Jetta Coupe.  It sits on a modified MKVI Golf chassis: 3" longer wheelbase (probably to fit all those blasted batteries) and 2" shorter roofline, but it doesn't look like a

Since the restructuring of General Motors, all the existing brands have started to transform. With only half the brands they once had for the US market, GM needs each of it's divisions to cover more of the market.  And if ever there was a sign that GM is not afraid of change, and the future in general, it's gotta be this: the Buick Regal GS "concept." You've probably already had an earful on the new Regal by this point.  If you haven't, here's the cliff notes:  Take one Opel Insignia, mix with Buick grille and badges, and bam - instant Regal!  This isn't the first time GM has slung Adam Opel's wares as Buicks in the US (Remember the old Buick-Opels?  Buick-Opel-Isuzus?), but it's probably going to

Despite being a product of the great Evil Empire, I'm still a fan of Cadillac's CTS-V. It's getting even more desirable for 2011 with the introduction of the 2-door CTS-V Coupe.  We had our first glance at the regular (and surprisingly sexy) CTS Coupe a few months back, and when the Detroit Show starts up in full on the 16th we'll be able to see what one with a whole ton of horsepower looks like! There's not really anything particularly shocking about the CTS-V Coupe, but we should still be thankful that such a car exists in today's eco-greenie-weenie environment.  Dimension-wise, it's almost identical to the sedan - same wheelbase, same 556bhp supercharged 6.2L LSA V8, same 6-speed Tremec TR6060 or 6-speed automatic, same huge