“Wow,” said my lovely life partner when she saw this picture of the new 1 Series M Coupe alongside an E30 M3 in Evo Magazine, “they really haven’t let it grow too much, have they?” I shot her a look. “You know that only one of those is a 3 Series, right?” She grinned sheepishly. Wishful thinking never looked so cute. “3 Series, 1 Series, what’s the difference?” she asks with the air of someone who doesn’t expect an answer. There’s a slight pause while I wonder what the hell to say to that. Nothing leaps out, so she’s the first to break the silence. “Besides,” she says as she turns the page, “it’s got 100 horsepower on your M Coupe and it’s awfully cute. You know, I could really use one of those.” I silently resolve to keep new issues of Evo to myself in the future. “Let’s look at the Veyron SuperSport,” I say.

In love with the 2011 VW Jetta? It’s tough to imagine, but I’ll certainly concede that it’s possible. Anyway, if you love the new Jetta, you won’t be able to stop yourself falling for its big brother, the forthcoming Passat-replacement. On the other hand, if you think the new Jetta looks like a stock photograph of a vanilla ice cream cone, or if it inspires you as much as an insurance firm’s mission statement, this New Midsize Sedan might leave you a bit cold. On the other hand, there is a silver lining to the Passat’s blandification: Volkswagen has finally figured out how to make the Phaeton look like a distinctive, innovative, upscale design.

It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a Mitsubishi Evo… or not. What we’re actually looking at here is a Proton Jebat, Malaysia’s (copied) answer to the Evo X. And though Proton got the Evo X’s looks down to a T, they weren’t quite able to replicate the rally-bred Mitsu’s secret sauce performance-wise. Proton’s two-liter turbo four makes a mere 237 HP and 253 lb-ft compared to the Evo’s 291 HP and 300 lb-ft. Still, because the Inspira on which the Jebat is based is essentially a rebadged Lancer, there’s a chance that the Jebat has a Mitsu-developed AWD system under the skin… but Proton’s not saying. And the Lancer-alike Jebat isn’t the only rebadged Proton the Malaysian OEM has put out of late. A rebadged Lotus Europa was also shown at the recent Malaysian Auto Show as the Proton Lekir, powered by a 1.6 liter Proton engine. Yes, Virginia, countries other than China are dependent on rebadges and knock-offs for new product…

In the wild, panthers are endangered. In the automotive world, Panthers will go extinct sometime in the third quarter of 2011, when the last Lincoln Town Car Executive L rolls off the line. If you think Panthers get a lot of lovin’ around these here parts, you should attend a convention of folks for whom those LTCELs are tools of the trade. Chances are that if you’ve used a limousine or livery service in the past 20 years, you’ve sat in the back seat of a Lincoln Town Car Executive L. That’s why it was big news at Limousine Charter & Tour magazine’s LCT Leadership Summit a couple of months ago when Ford’s fleet marketing manager, Gerry Koss, announced that replacing the soon to be dearly departed Town Car in Ford’s livery fleet fleet will be livery and stretched limo versions of the Lincoln MKT.

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For the last several years the 300C has been Chrysler’s band of Spartans, fighting off the apathy and irrelevance that has threatened to overwhelm the brand. And it didn’t just keep Chrysler clawing onto relevance, but it also revived an art form that was also circling the drain: the large, RWD American car. As Cadillac moved towards a sharply-tailored, Euro-fighter positioning, the 300 became the ride of choice for everyone from traditionalist suburbanites to ghetto CEOs. And now it’s back, and like its Charger cousin, the new 300 is a subtle, delicate thing compared to its rough-hewn, unabashedly Bentley-aping predecessor. But has a more sophisticated look actually improved the 300’s appeal? Will concessions to aerodynamics and originality inspire fans of the 300, or is progress a fundamental problem for a car that seems to live in the past? One thing is certain: Chrysler needs its 300 now as badly as it ever did. [Please surf over to Motor Trend for more non-official pictures]

When Lamborghini told the press that it would not be building a production version of the Estoque “four-door coupe” the reason the Sant’Agata firm gave was that

“the timing and market conditions are just not right for an additional model line.”

Which made us wonder why Lambo didn’t take the opportunity to say something like

“Lamborghini refuses to build bland, uninspired vehicles in a faddish niche just because several competitors are”

But now that the Estoque is reportedly back on for production, that would have been a bit of a self-sabotaging move. Or at least it would be if the Estoque didn’t already sabotage Lamborghini’s brand equity by being a bland, me-too entry into an already played-out niche. Which is a pity: Lambo saw the four-seat supercar niche coming  decades ago, and built one of its most distinctive designs ever to fill it. And say what you want about this Estoque, it’s certainly no Espada. But hey, it could have been worse…

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Opel has let it slip to the European media that it will build a new Calibra coupe based on the Opel Insignia (Buick Regal)… and that a convertible is in the works as well. The hardtop will hit German dealers in 2012, with a convertible coming in 2013 alongside a planned OPC/VXR version with 325 HP and AWD. We definitely won’t get that version because GM won’t let Buick play with its 2.8T V6, but a big Buick coupe and an accompanying convertible would sure be a good way to cap off the brand’s recent renaissance (provided the Epsilon II platform feels renaissance-quality in three years). Since GM’s Nick Reilly says the coupe will be inspired by the Opel OPC concept, we’ve included a few images for the Buick faithful to photoshop the Trishield onto. Then there’s just the small issue of whether this midsized FWD coupe is worthy of becoming the next Riviera….

Lincoln’s recent styling direction has certainly generated its fair share of controversy here at TTAC, and certainly Lincoln’s sales need to improve if dealers are going to swallow the loss of Mercury. Accordingly, Ford has hired Max Wolff, former head of exterior design for Cadillac to reshape the look of Lincoln. Which is an interesting choice considering that Cadillac’s exterior designs, though distinctly superior to Lincoln’s of late, have not been without their controversies. Besides, what are you supposed to expect from a designer who’s been sticking to Cadillac’s Art&Science playbook for years? But there’s a bigger question here: is Lincoln a mere makeover away of success in the brutally competitive luxury space? Would an MKS in a freshly-tailored suit be a real threat to the E Class or 5 Series? And if not, what should Mr Wolff be wrapping in his Cadillac-sharpened sheetmetal?

Lots of car enthusiasts have heard of the AAR ‘Cuda, a homologation special that Chrysler made in 1970 to go racing in the SCCA. What’s not widely known is that there was a CUDA designed ten years earlier, and it came out of the styling studio of American Motors, not Mopar.
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Does the new BMW Six Series improve on Bangle’s wild-eyed vision of an avant-garde gentleman’s coupe, or is it as bland as the music it’s introduced to here? Personally, I’d vote for the latter, but then I always thought that the last Sechser was one of Bangle’s more successful designs, injecting some much-needed vitality in the otherwise ultra-conservative world of German full-sized coupes. But then I’m still decades away from being in the target demographic for the Six Series… what say you?

Well, now we know why Audi let VW have its trademark LED headlight “mascara”… it had even crazier headlights warming up in the bullpen. Here they are attached to some car that will reportedly be sold as the next Audi A6.

Bill Mitchell, only the second man to head General Motors styling when he took over from the monumental Harley Earl, was not a man about whom people were impartial. GM’s official history reveres him. Harley Earl’s family reviles him. His coworkers and subordinates at GM either loved him or despised the man. Even landmark designs that were signatures of his reign at GM Styling, the split-window 1963 Corvette Sting Ray and the boat tail Rivieras, are polarizing designs that had detractors, including some on the GM Styling staff. He admittedly ran that department like a dictator, though he rarely fired anyone. Mercurial in temper, he’d have screaming fits at his design staff, laced with the most vulgar epithets, then defuse the tension with an offhand joke as he left the room. Shamelessly ambitious and self-promoting, often taking personal credit for his staffs’ designs, had the term “larger than life” not existed, Mitchell would have coined it to describe himself.

By today’s standards of workplace political correctness, diversity and racial and sexual harassment law, Bill Mitchell was an atavistic throwback to an age when ethnic jokes by supervisors were uncomfortably endured by the brunt of that ‘humor’. An executive then could tell his secretary to order him up some hookers after a multiple martini lunch, knowing that she’d hold all calls and cover for him if his wife (or another executive) got jealous. As a result, in addition to whatever praise and criticism his aesthetic direction and management skills have garnered, Bill Mitchell’s legacy has been somewhat tarred with the brush of bigotry.

The question is are we being fair to the man? Are we applying contemporary standards to an era that was simultaneously more innocent and more evil in terms of racial, ethnic and other prejudice?

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Ask the average motorist what they think of when they think of Audi, the word “headlights” will come up mighty quickly. And not coincidentally either: Volkswagen’s premium brand even spearheaded last year’s holiday marketing campaign by inviting consumers to “have the best lights in your neighborhood.” But one of the biggest challenges of the multiple-brand strategy is the constant pressure to take whatever works for one brand and apply it to the others, which is apparently just what Volkswagen has done.

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Arthur Ross started in 1935 as a „Creative Designer” at GM. He did Cadillacs and Buicks. He had a hand in drawing the lines of some famous cars of those times, the Cadillac Sixty Special, LaSalle, Fleetwood, and the Buick Y-Job, GM’s first concept car. He also was a pervert. (Read More…)

When Chrysler revealed its Five Year plan last year, product plans showed the PT Cruiser dieing off after 2010 with no planned replacement. Then, earlier this year, Chrysler rebadged a Lancia Delta and brought it along to the Detroit Auto Show without saying much about it. Now, Motor Trend says a production version of the Chryslerized Delta Concept will be shown at the next Geneva Auto Show, raising the possibility that the Lancia could come to the US… and soon. Sure, it’s possible that the Delta will simply be for other markets where the Lancia/Chrysler two-face will show its Chrysler side (the UK and Brazil come to mind), but Chrysler needs to beef up its US volume to keep the turnaround turning around. And that means not only replacing the PT, but bringing customers in with something new and fresh. Could a PT Corsa fit the bill?