Ask a gearhead about Chinese auto styling, and the adjective most likely to come up is “derivative.” Or at least “crude.” Cars like the Rolls-aping Hongqi HQD helped build these unflattering associations, but this picture proves that they aren’t always true. This HQE, the chosen chariot for Hu Jintao’s National Day parade appearance [via Gasgoo], reaches back to FAW-Hongqi’s own heritage (rather than, say, the Robb Report) for inspiration.  That’s a good trend for an industry that was fast becoming a car blog punchline.

Goodyear light-up tires, circa 1961. [Hat Tip: David Holzman]

We thought the Lexus HS250h would be a cynical rebadge of the Prius with a little more power. We were wrong. The HS was marginally unique enough, but then ToMoCo went and cynically reabdged it as a Toyota and called it the Sai. Sigh. It hasn’t been confirmed for the US yet, but if it is, there’s not much breathing room between the $22k Prius and the $26k Camry Hybrid. Nor would there be much reason left to buy an HS.

A video promo for VW’s One Liter Concept accidentally reveals that which keeps Mr De Silva up at night: The 2012 Golf VII.

I understand the idea of retro-inspired cars. Well, in theory anyway. But could someone explain why Mercedes would chose to crib the rear end of a 1998 Acura CL for their SLS AMG?

The IIHS still can’t believe A) how far safety features have come and B) how it cool it was for them to destroy a perfectly good car. Oh, and may you meet the Bel Air’s fate if you don’t get the headline reference. [via Autoblog]

courtesy ricedexotics.com

Thanks to Marko for the heads-up.

Honda’s U3-X was designed more with robots in mind than humans. Can you tell?

The new Kia Sorento pitches camp in one of America’s hottest segments. Will it match RAV-4, CR-V, Equinox and the other big Sellers?

Headline reference here. [Hat Tip: KatiePuckrick]

From wreckedexotics.com:

This Mercedes SLR was purchased only a day before this accident. The 23 year old son of the owner borrowed the car and managed to crash it into 3 other cars.

Details are a bit sketchy, but reports say he had a young child in the passenger seat who was slightly injured. The driver left the scene of the accident and reported back 17 hours later. He said he had to leave the scene to take the child to the hospital.

The SLR was allegedly racing a Ferrari 599 GTB at the time of the accident. The car cost about $700,000.

Location:
Warsaw, Poland

Re-write press releases much? More than you might think.

A River Runs Through: Imagine an SUV that is able to blaze from zero to sixty in 5.9 seconds, then jump off the highway into the valley and across the river, and be back on the street in time for dinner. Give it a clean wash and the aforementioned story would have seemed like a small white lie. This is what a supercharged V8 is able to accomplish in the Range Rover Sport, a sophisticated 4×4 that runs like a sports car. Available with both new engines, I fancy the S/C model by far.