Car Throttle

In Part 1 of this article, I covered 5 recent sales failures of the automotive world.  This time we dive into some more odd, idiotic, or just misjudged cars.  Onto the list... 5) Lincoln Blackwood

Luxury Pickup Truck.  That should be a contradictory term.  Pickup trucks are made to haul things, do work, go off-road: these are not luxurious attributes.  A Luxury Pickup Truck is a fairly stupid idea.  Yet, ask Cadillac: people buy stupid.  In their case, Escalade EXT's: an Escalade with a pickup bed.  Considering this is just a Chevrolet Avalanche (admittedly a pretty clever, if ugly, pickup truck) with some Cadillac trim glued on and a larger price tag, they sell quite a lot of them.  Sales were their highest in

This week we saw a huge game release in the form of the Black Ops, the latest installment in the Call of Duty franchise. Black Ops has been billed as the biggest media launch - of any kind - in history. While there was some action on the automotive front with that game and the Call of Duty-themed Jeep Wrangler, Gran Turismo is the game car enthusiasts are looking forward too. After delays, Gran Turismo 5 has finally gotten a new offual launch date, and just in time for the holiday season. What a coincidence! *Sarcasm alert* And the date is.....Wednesday, November 24th. There you have it, under two weeks away. This is official too, direct from the official Playstation blog in the United States. Kazunori Yamauchi, President

Maserati has recently let loose on the most high-performance Gran Turismo model yet, the MC Stradale. It made its first appearance at the Paris Auto Show. It is unique for the fact that in recent years Maserati has put more focus on emphasis on the word "luxury" in performance luxury. MC in the Stradale name stands for Maserati Corsa (Maserati Racing in English). The MC Stradale aims to provide a bridge between the road and track-focused models like the MC Trofeo and the GT4 race car. Maserati says the car features "razor-sharp handling" that it will break "the 300km/h barrier." The engine gets a bump in horsepower from 430 to 450 and Maserati says downforce has been improved without an increase in drag. You can check out the car proving

Mansory is a tuning company known for its outrageous creations for the uber-wealthy with no taste. Recently, it introduced the Rolls-Royce Phantom White Ghost, which is perhaps its most tame creation yet. Incidentally, it also the best looking of all. The latest vehicle to experience Mansory's touch is the Maserati Gran Turismo, and you can decide the results for yourself below. Mansory's ostentatious "look at me" traits still apply to the Gran Turismo, this time in orange. Now this writer likes the color orange, but it has to be done right. We think cars like the Maserati Gran Turismo are pretty much best left alone too - they show upper crust status enough as they are. As far as exterior changes, the Mansory GT and GTS get

With its front-engined Gran Turismo-style coupes (hence the name), Maserati perhaps hasn't got a whole lot of attention lately. Right now if I had to pick a GT, it would be any one of the cars in Aston Martin's range. I like the Gran Turismo, but for some it perhaps lacks the styling panache of Ferrari and definitely Lamborghini. Then again though, they cost less right? One thing that is always great to hear is that Italian exhaust note. Maserati has made some new advertisements for the car that let you hear them a bit. They focus less on the car than I would like, but you can still hear it nonetheless. You might notice them refer to the car as the "GranCabrio" - in international markets that is

There's been a lot of coverage of video games and related things lately at CarThrottle. We recently completed a review on Need for Speed Shift, our first ever video game review. Gran Turismo (this time 5) is another huge racing franchise that is set for a launch next year. Until then, the public relations team has been in full effect to whet everyone's appetites. The creator of the game recently lapped the Nurburgring in a Lexus IS-F. Last month, they put out a promotional video that I missed for the Play Station Portable game in Japan. It shows a 1969 Corvette and 1988 Lamborghini Countach bumping into each other on the track. Is it real or not? Some things say yes, some not - like the fact

I love good design - in cars and in houses, technology and more.  As part of that, one of the websites I check out often is Architectural Digest where a lot of unique and innovative designs are featured. What does that have to do with automobiles you might say? Well, earlier this year Maserati and Architectural Digest announced a partnership to showcase the best in garage design - highlighting an area not usually focused on in the design world. What an unique and innovative idea, huh? Linking architecture with Maserati through the garage that they're parked in. Entrants could be existing garages or concept garages - with a winner to be chosen in each category. About 125 entries were submitted, and the results are pretty

Onslaught of the Gran Turismos! There doesn't seem to be much "Gran Turismo" about the 5-Series GT, but GT it is. More are coming though! What's next a 7-series GT? With BMW, you never know. A new 3-Series GT is coming to the United States market in 2011, around the time the X1 debuts. The 3-Series GT would bring the 3-Series model count up to 5 models. Sedan, Coupe, Convertible, Wagon and now, GT. Yay? Photo courtesy of Edmunds Inside Line. To me the X1 seems like it could fit the "role" of a 3-Series GT, but I guess not. BMW is determined to make the most out of what it thinks is a new segment it's creating that "bridges the gap" between 3-Series and 5-Series. Couldn't

How would you like your very own, customized Maserati for only $320? Well a 1/43 scale Maserati, that is. Maserati has launched a new website called Maserati-Id (Maserati Individually Designed). The site lets you custom design your new Quattroporte, Quattroporte S, and Granturismo S die-cast car in a configurator where you can pick your favorite color out of seven and one of interior colors to match. In addition, you can customize the brake calipers, rims and even add a glass sunroof made of glass.  The models are hand made in Italy. $320 does seem quite steep though (especially for the extremely small 1/43 scale). I wonder how many of these they'll end up sellin? Regardless, even it if is a few they'll make a lot of money off of it. I want to see more things like

Ah, the Porsche Panamera.  It seems to just be one of those cars that no one likes. To be honest, I've never heard anyone say the Panamera was good looking. I'm sure there are some out there, but I haven't heard from them. I'm definitely in that camp. If you're going to make a new car, make it look good. I will say one thing nice about the car; the interior is amazing! Very nice, Porsche really hit the ball out of the park with that one. Besides, history has shown us that enthusiasts aren't always right at gauging the hits so what do I know right? Anyways, it seems like some help could be on the way in the form of a Panamera Cabriolet. I know