WHO cares, one might reasonably ask, about the centennial of an automaker that stopped selling cars in the United States 15 years ago and didn’t sell many in the decades before that?

Download Alfa at 100: Prewar to Post-Graduate part 1

Terra4’s unconventional package - a totally integrated design and closed body, with a short, deep cargo area - permits greater functionality and utility than a pickup truck.

Download 2002 GMC Terra4

brought the Curb crossover concept tot he 2011 Detroit Auto Show. This concept is a preview version for a future model that they say will compete with models like the Nissan Juke. Hyundai expects the production model to debut in the next two to three years.


Download 2011 Hyundai Curb

We’re not going to lie; when we picked the Koenigsegg Agera as our 2010 supercar of the year, we were pretty proud of ourselves.

Download 2011 Koenigsegg Agera R

Apparently, even rickshaws can be turned into futuristic concept cars, and shockingly enough, this one has a Maybach badge on it. Sure, it’s only a concept vehicle, but can you imagine riding the streets of the Far East on a Maybach rickshaw in the not-so-distant future?

Download 2010 Maybach eRikscha

Suzuki is getting a head start on the Beijing Auto Show by announcing a brand new concept car called the Swift R that is said to preview the future Swift Sport.

Download 2011 Suzuki Swift R Concept

You're sitting a stoplight in your new 263-horse Mazdaspeed3. The street ahead is clear. When the light flashes green, you're going to excuse yourself from the rest of the herd rather rapidly -- including that brand-new 2011 BMW X3 xDrive35i right next to you. Dispatching it shouldn't be a problem, right?
Well, you had better hope whoever is behind the wheel of that crossover doesn't have similar aspirations. Because while you artfully Fred Astaire the Mazda's pedals, balancing wheelspin and boost to maximize acceleration, they'll merely slide the transmission into sport mode and step on the gas. Then the X3 will reach 60 mph in 5.6 seconds, matching your Speed3.


Download First Test: 2011 BMW X3 xDrive35i

Associate online editor Scott Evans spent some quality road-trip time in the LaCrosse. "'A Buick?' That's what everyone kept asking when I told them what car I was driving. What car would I rather take on an 800-mile drive? Considering how poor the weather was the weekend before, I was glad to have a car with a good set of all-season tires."

Download Long Term Update 6: 2010 Buick LaCrosse CXS

The ever-shrinking list of SUV-free automakers has shrunk again. With the introduction of the 2006 Subaru B9 Tribeca, the list is down to eight: Audi, Ferrari, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Maserati, Mini, Scion and Chrysler if you don't count the Pacifica. We admire their resolve, although Audi will cave next month and introduce its SUV, the Q7, at the Frankfurt auto show.

Download Full Test: 2006 Subaru B9 Tribeca

The way the 911 range unfolds with each generation has become as predictable as Mission: Impossible III. First comes the "base" Carrera and Carrera S; then the AWD Carrera 4; Cabriolet versions of those; followed by the hard-core GT3; then the Turbo; maybe a Targa; and finally the loony GT2. It's all completed just in time to start the cycle all over again with the next-generation 911.

Download Follow-Up Test: 2006 Porsche 911 Carrera 4

We almost got through an entire week without having a run-in with a Porsche Puritan.

But on the last night, two blocks from home, there's one of them waiting for us at a stoplight. He, and unfortunately, it's always he, is behind the wheel of a garage-kept Targa, air-cooled, of course, 993 generation, white paint, fiddling with the manual shifter, enjoying the evening breeze.

Download Follow-Up Test: 2006 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet

The new MY2012 Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe will debut at the Geneva Motor Show on March 1 and make its way to U.S. showrooms in September. The 302-hp C350 and 201-hp C250 include the progressive technology featured on the upcoming MY2012 C-Class sedan, but packaged in a coupe design that combines pure driving fun with exemplary efficiency.

Download 2012 Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe Official Premiere

Like his colleagues in Detroit, GM China Group president and managing director Kevin Wale spent a lot of time last year revising sales forecasts. But unlike the GM execs in Motown, who watched helplessly as American buyers stayed out of showrooms and the U.S. vehicle market imploded, Wale was forced to keep revising his forecasts dramatically upward. "I started 2009 forecasting the Chinese market at 9.5 million units," says Wale, a laconic Aussie who came from GM's Holden operation to run Vauxhall in Britain, before moving to GM's Chinese headquarters in Shanghai five years ago. "I undercalled it by four million units."

Download How China will Change the Cars America Drives

Back in April, we brought you news of a partnership between Nissan and Daimler and now we have news that certain Infiniti models may carry “Powered by AMG” badges. Nissan’s Luxury Line, Infiniti, is considering all options for their Performance Line, dubbed Infiniti Hot Models by British Magazine Autocar. Options include styling add-ons to full-blown Performance Hot Models with AMG Engines built on the main production line.

Download AMG Engines Expected to Power Infiniti’s Performance Line

The gloves are off at Toyota. After a couple of false starts, Toyota now has a laser-lock on the cash cows of Chrysler, GM, and Ford: full-size trucks. And it's gone right to the heartland of truck culture to get it right this time, building a brand-new factory in San Antonio, Texas, to manufacture a truck codenamed 400N, the bigger, bolder, tougher replacement for the Tundra that's due to go on sale next year as a 2007 model.

Download 2007 Toyota Tundra Breaks Cover

I've been covering cars for well over a decade, and never have I seen what I'm witnessing now: myriad new vehicles that are actually lighter and smaller (or at least no bigger) than the ones they've replaced. For as long as I can remember, next-gen cars have always been heavier and larger than their predecessors.

Download Take and Give