Car Throttle

We've covered the Kia Cadenza in the past when the VG Concept debuted at the Seoul Auto Show and more recently when Kia released new renderings of the sedan. Since then, the car has gotten an official name for production - Cadenza. At least it is different, right? Some production images of the car have been shown before, but these new ones are so far the first "live" images (not in the studio) to turn up. Also, they give us our first glimpse at the rear view of the production car. The good news is that the Cadenza's looks have remained true to the VG preview concept. While breaking no new ground, it ups the ante for Kia considerably. So far it looks to be

Ah, the Shelby Daytona Coupe. Impressive car, no matter how you slice it. Fast, attractive, and, until recently very, very expensive to acquire. They don't come onto the market very often, and when they do, the price is somewhere between "your right hand" and "your first born". Reproductions? Yeah, you could, but there seems to be a better option. It looks like Carroll Shelby himself is set to start a production run of "continuation" cars (as they're called in the business), and they spec out rather nice. There are already a few repro versions of the coupe out there, and some of them are quite well done (the Brock Coupe, most notably), but this is the only version that will have Shelby's imprature on it. Coming from

Devon Motor Works and it's GTX supercar in the news again - this time for a record break. In case you're unfamiliar, Devon Motor Works is a small American company aiming to produce the world's fastest supercar. Quite a tall order there! In June, the company made a big play. Due to Chrysler's financial condition, a group of selleable assets were marked for sale to raise cash. The "Viper brand" was one of those assets deemed by Chrysler as worthy to sell. Turns out Devon Motor Works was the only bidder, with it's lowball offer of $5.5 million. That amount included everything - the name, tooling, leasing of the Viper's Conner Avenue assembly plant. Needless to say, Chrysler turned down the offer, and now is going to

An important leak from September's Frankfurt International Auto Show has already appeared-  the highly anticipated Saab 9-5. Now comes the second leak, this time about the new Mercedes E-Class Estate (or what we call in America a wagon). While teasers are effective in building up excitement about a new model, leaks are not. I hate it when all of the important launches from the show are already leaked ahead of time - where's the fun in that? Not that an E-Class Estate model would be one of those highly anticipated cars, but still..... Regardless of being highly anticipated though, the new E-Class Estate is an important model for Mercedes nonetheless. Redesigned E-Class sedan and coupe models have already been launched, and now Mercedes is following with a

Suzuki is a brand name world-renowned for it's excellence in motorcycles, dirtbikes and ATVs.  Many people recognize the company as the leader in the area. With all that goodwill, it's a shame not to try to build on that with the company's automotive business. Suzuki has now recognized this and is working to do just that in it's products as well as advertising. One of the first examples of this is the Suzuki Kizashi mid-size sedan. According to Suzuki, the name Kizashi "tells us something great is coming." I think they're right! For some reason I really have taken to this car. I like the clean, modern and forward-looking design. In addition, Suzuki's expertise in packaging small cars has resulted in a car with larger interior space

Trickle, trickle. Rolls-Royce is really dragging this one out, aren't they? We saw the concept, then got a name announced, then heard about more variants and in among all of that, many spy shots of the car sans camouflage have been captured. The strategy must be working though: Rolls-Royce said it has received more than 10,000 "expressions of interest" in the Ghost, with around 1,500 of those "expressing a serious desire to own the vehicle." Your guess is as good as mine whether or not that means orders. 536 horsepower and 575 pound-feet to the wheels! Whoa! Talk about performance, the smaller Ghost is packing even more power than it's larger brother the Phantom. That power works out to a 0-60 time of 4.7 seconds,

Lexus is aiming for the HS 250h to sell 25,000 units a year, and to hopefully capture new buyers for a few different reasons. For instance some might stretch from a loaded mid-size sedan or Prius to a fuel-efficient small car with a Lexus badge - or so the thinking goes. Also, with the HS 250h achieving lower mileage ratings than the Prius, the desire is that the car be compared to others in it's class rather than other hybrids. So the official numbers are out, and the HS 250h's standard base price has been announced at $34,200 plus a $875 destination charge. So figure about $35K for anyone looking to get into one. For that price the HS 250h includes a lot of standard equipment. The

The Audi R8 has proven to be a hit vehicle with enthusiasts. It has all the right ingredients: V-8 power, mid-engined layout and most of all, a more attainable $114,200 price tag compared with it's Italian competition. It's surprising that the car was even able to make it to production, especially given any feared overlap with the R8 and the Lamborghini Gallardo. They must have figured the halo effect of having the R8 was important to the Audi brand. It certainly has worked out well in that regard! While I'm not a fan of the car's styling, I can appreciate the car for what it is. For those looking for something even closer to the power of most exotics, Audi is happy to oblige with a higher

It's amazing what one car can do! Alfa Romeo debuted the stunning 8C Competitzione for model year 2007 and it began a new era for the brand. Inspiration from that design is tricking down to the rest of that lineup, helping to take Alfa Romeo in an entirely different direction. MiTo, upcoming 147 replacement the Milano - they all came after the 8C Competizione. To me it was a brilliant move - what better way to herald it's return to the United States market and whet our appetites? And, not only that - it has immediately vaulted Alfa Romeo into the supercar category. An Alfa Romeo is on the list with Ferrari's and Lamborghinis as cars people want - who would have thought that? When it came

The British luxury automotive brands are on a roll lately, aren't they? Jaguar, Land Rover, Bentley, Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce - all luxury brands hailing from England. For that matter, MINI has done very well too, even though it's not a luxury brand like any of the ones mentioned. Now it's too bad none of these companies are under British ownership, but they have been designed and built in Britain so that has to count for something. Maybe someone will someday revive a more affordable, mainstream British brand. Well, I'm digressing quite a bit. The story here is that Land Rover has released pricing for it's latest and greatest, the Range Rover. Rolls-Royce of SUVs? Without a doubt. The Range Rover has continued to show sales resilience for Land