Future Car – 2011 Chevrolet Cruze
General Motors (GM) has been absolutely transparent when it comes to new product reveals, 
choosing to show as much as they can about a future product even before it goes into production. This move on GM’s part is meant to shore up consumer and shareholder confidence, offering proof that the automaker is heading in the right direction by building smaller, much more fuel efficient vehicles.
Introducing The Chevy Cruze
One of the cars that will influence GM for years to come is the Chevrolet Cruze (pronounced cruise) a compact car slightly larger than the current Chevy Cobalt. Originally, it appeared that GM would replace the Cobalt with the Cruze, but after the August 2008 press reveal in Lordstown, Ohio, management has indicated that the Cobalt may soldier on as a separate model.
Regardless of where GM stands with the Cobalt, the Cruze is the car that could make or break the automaker when it goes on sale in Europe beginning in Spring 2009 followed by its US debut one year later. Though the US model will probably have a slightly different powertrain offering than what the European market will see, GM says that the Cruze will still get at least 40 mpg on the highway. Not bad for a gasoline model, putting it in the diminutive Smart Fortwo’s territory while delivering a bigger and safer car. Read the rest of this entry »
Cadillac ATS to Take on BMW 3-Series
In October 2010 General Motors announced a significant decision for its Cadillac brand. That luxury marque, which sells midsize and larger vehicles, would finally be getting a compact car. And not just any sedan — this one will take on the segment leading BMW 3-Series when it comes to the market within the next few years.
Compact Cimarron
Granted, this is not GM’s first attempt at building a compact car. From 1982 to 1988 we had the Cimarron,
a J-body based car underpinned by the same platform powering similar Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick models. Right there you had a big problem — this Cadillac was barely distinguishable from other GM models: sure, it had a special grill, tail light treatments and leather interior, but customers saw right through the Cimarron. When GM pulled the model in 1988 it was a mercy killing.
In the 1990s, GM introduced to the North America market the Catera, a small mid-size sedan from Opel. This car was better than the Cimarron, but it still fell short. Introduced in 1998 and dropped in 2003, the Catera was the “Cadillac that zigged,” prized for responsive handling and an upscale interior, but no competitor for the likes of BMW, Mercedes, Audi and other luxury European makes. Read the rest of this entry »
The Audi Q7 – Luxury Car Sports – Utility Vehicle
First introduced in 2006 at the Los Angeles auto show the Audi Q7 was surely a sensation, originally built by the German automaker Audi this is considered a full-sized sports utility vehicle. Since there have been two very popular models before the Q7 (A6 and the A8) the number seven denotes its position between the two and the letter “Q” describes a new family of vehicles.
Controversy with its name:
Due to the fact that Audi has started to use the letter “Q” for its vehicles — Nissan (the multinational automaker which has its headquarters in Japan) sued this German company so that they may cease and desist of the use of the letter “Q” which Nissan had been using it ever since 1989 as the name for sedans as well as SUVs (the QX4 as well as the QX56).
The settlement of this lawsuit was partially in favor of Nissan, it concluded that Audi would only use the letter “Q” as a prefix for their models Q5 and Q7. Read the rest of this entry »