Category: Concept Cars

The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering did not disappoint for 2016. Held at The Quail Lodge and Golf Club in Carmel,California, the event drew 5,000 attendees. Cars and motorsports are supposed to be the highlight of the event, but food, drink and people are even more interesting. The attendees were enthusiasts, collectors, owners and motorsports personalities.

There have been over 1,800 car brands in the United States auto industry since 1896.  Entrepreneurs and enthusiasts saw the American auto industry as a way to make a name for themselves and, hopefully, a lot of money.  This set off a wave of industrial Darwinism that continues today.  Car brands came and went with startling regularity.  Some brands launched and died quickly and are now just a faint memory if remembered at all.  It would take a real automotive history buff to remember the Adria, or the Carhartt, or the Hackett.  Some more recent brands are still fresh in our memory like Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Mercury, Plymouth, Hummer and Saturn.  Today, there are 40 car brands on sale in the United States.  Some names are so strong that they keep coming back in one form or another.

Stutz Sold 35,000 Cars Until Falling to the Great Depression

A once-storied name in the American luxury auto [...]

For this last Holiday Card, I included a non-holiday photo of an vehicle I worked on in my youth at Ford - the Ford Carrousel concept and asked who could identify the vehicle. A few who were working at Ford at the time correctly identified it, but all misspelled it. The prototype used an unusual spelling of Carrousel with two "Rs". Many though it was Hal Sperlich's MiniMax concept from the late '70s at Ford, or a prototype of an early Chrysler minivan. Nope.

Cadillac's Hollywood-designed Elmiraj coupe was dramatically unveiled at Clint Eastwood's Tahama Golf Resort during the 2013 Pebble Beach automotive week. Cadillac and General Motors management is coy when asked if they will build the Cadillac Elmiraj concept coupe. To a person, journalists who were at the unveiling want to believe Cadillac can find the means to build this car.

Sometimes things start out great and end up only OK, or perhaps worse. The smell of coffee in the morning. Most Superbowls. A full bottle of Patron. We recently had the opportunity to experience the Audi e-tron and came away excited by the vehicle, but wondering why we got to see so much of it.

The General invited AutoPacific to get a sneak peek at a new pickup truck concept that will be shown at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show. We’re going to spoil the surprise and fill you in with all of the details so keep reading…

AutoPacific wants to know what you think about your car. We want to know what you want. What would you replace, disown, or repaint? What would make you keep your car for a long time? And, what would prompt you to say, "aha! There's a new car I would buy right now." Tell us at VehicleVoice Dot Com.

As true of most manufacturers, Chrysler LLC is working on a full electric vehicle. Chrysler is going for the sport-minded set, though, teasing with a two-seat Dodge sports car, complementing Jeep Patriot EV and Chrysler Town & Country more practical-minded extended-range EV concepts.

Follow the jump for more photos and the full Dodge press release.

At the 2009 NAIAS, GM announced that in 2011, a production version of the global Beat minicar and the Orlando seven-seater will both join the U.S. lineup. The Beat, due for a Geneva show production introduction, will be called Spark for production. In the photos that follow, the white vehicle is the Orlando and the green the Beat (eventually to be renamed Spark.)

Profitable or not, GM is bringing an international minicar to the States. While the Spark will reward drivers with terrific fuel economy, will the efficiency gains be enough to adapt to the small size?

The Orlando brings an internationally sized seven-seater to the States. Orlando, introduced as a concept at the 2008 Paris auto show, will focus on moving people more than stuff. Its box shape will provide maximum cargo room for [...]