You’re looking at the first photos of a new Mazda concept – the MX-5 Superlight. The Miata sorry, MX-5 is the preferred nomenclature, was already a svelte platform, but Mazda has apparently decided to emphasize the sporty aspects of the car by stripping out all (and we mean all) of the creature comforts, including such luxury items as a windshield! We don’t have many details but we’ll be happy to wildly speculate after the jump.
2009 Mazda MX-5
The once youthful shot in the proverbial Mazda arm Miata, is now the brands stalwart patriarch. Actually, rather than some sort of leap forward in technology or style, the original Miata was refreshingly old-school. It was inexpensive, but not cheap. Basic, but still comfortable. And fun and sporty, while still reliable. Most of those qualities could not be said of the old British roadsters that Mazda mimicked in inspiration for the Miata. So now at almost 20, does the 2009 Mazda MX-5 Miata still provide sports car thrills that exceed its price tag? Read More…
Mercedes Benz SLS AMG
Even though the Mercedes SLS has only unofficially been sighted in various places Sasquatch-style, it is not surprising that the German automaker is also planning an all-electric version of the upcoming supercar. Not surprising because it has been a mere two months since Mercedes plucked up a 10 percent stake in American electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors. Read More…
2009 Pontiac Solstice GXP Coupe
While we applaud even the slightest chance that the G8 will survive as a Chevy, there is one other car at Pontiac that when gone, simply is not represented domestically by any other car maker: the Solstice/Sky. There are rumors that perhaps the Solstice and Sky may live on with private ownership since the factory in Delaware where they are produced could be sold as a package to some Steve Saleen/Jack Roush-type. But that probably won’t happen. Instead, we are left with only one year to enjoy the Pontiac Solstice coupe. Read More…
In the automotive world, the rumor mill is overworked and underpaid. It’s also often just plain wrong, so keep that in mind. Today’s grist is some wild speculation by Auto Express about what a smaller Miata companion car might look like. The “MX-2,” as the speculation goes, will bring the concept of the original Miata back from its current, bloated form. Of course, the central premise here is that the MX-5 is too big, and honestly, having been in a few of them, I have to say that the current car is about as small as its gonna get given the state of federal safety requirements. Nonetheless, the idea is intriguing if implausible, and the renderings look, to be honest, much better than the current MX-5. Maybe Mazda should hire the photochop artist?
Do you like gratuitous images of hot supercars all over your screen? Yeah. This is almost NSFW. Almost. We’re going to tease you with these totally naked images of sexy Italian rides. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Today’s object of lust: the Lamborghini LP560-4 Spyder.
The Wolfsburg juggernaut Volkswagen has decided to produce of one of their most well-received concepts in many years, the BlueSport roadster, which our colleagues in the automotive press corps like to consider the spiritual successor to the VW-Porsche 914. They’ve given the little bugger an internal development code, which is big news because it was originally intended to be a one-off concept, not a pre-production concept. Plus, with its small turbo-diesel engine, it’s theoretically good for 42 MPG and complies with California’s strict emissions standards. Cool! Read on for more details …
Now that the calendar reads ’2009′ and summer is upon us, we can already begin shutting the book on the first decade of the new millenia. All the cars that will be produced have either made it to dealerships or have half a dozen reviews already printed in some magazine collecting dust on your shelf.
This decade closes much like the 1960s, in an atmosphere of uproar and protest, with rumors of war and peace and revolution at hand. The auto industry has experienced a second Golden Age, bigger and grander than the first, and has again sunk into crisis, darker and dimmer than the one Baby Boomers remember. And enthusiasts young and old fear that a similar fate awaits them in the coming years with news of outrageously stringent CAFE standards, and fear-mongering legislators fuel anxieties that we’ve already seen the best cars of the next thirty some odd years.
So it is that we turn back to this decade already a bit nostalgic. Here lie the future legends, the autos of myth and lore. With the future unclear, we ask ourselves which cars made the glorious 2000′s the decade we will all miss more than we know?
Or maybe an aluminum halibut?
The Veritas RS III. What is it exactly? It could be either a mechanical catfish art car from Burning Man or a giant mockup of a prostitute’s shoe. Or possibly just another misguided design exercise from some over-eager disciples of the Bangle Design University for Destroying Beauty. We’ll leave the taxonomic designation to the experts.
Wilmington Solstice/Sky Factory
There may be life after GM’s death for the Solstice and Sky. Admirers of the sports cars are crossing their collective fingers on word from GM CEO Fritz Henderson’s statement that GM is entertaining the notion of selling the Wilmington Delaware plant where the two roadsters are built.
