aaaantoine

If there exists nostalgia for 80's Monte Carlo SS's and Bustleback Sevilles, how do you know current teens won't want to rebuild a Celica when they reach their 40's? As a matter of curiosity, does anyone know if the 2005 Mustang has impacted the selling price of vintage models?

Oldsmobile Delta: Oldsmobile Vista, unfinished:

Well crap, if the all-new MX-5 is better than the Solstice, then they should have made the MX-5 the 2006 CotY, simply for beating the drop-dead-appealing Solstice. But NOT THE CIVIC!! :bs:

I'm no Saab owner, but I do appreciate the cars. I've seen a 9-7X on the road, and I was surprised at how well they differentiated it from the other GMT360s. I didn't see a TrailBlazer in Saab's clothing. I saw a Saab SUV. The only critical comment I can make about Saab is: the 9-5 is starving for a significant update.

Ah... See, now I have to choose my words carefully. First off, I don't consider the Civic and Prius to be futuristic. I instead consider their design to be overtly Japanese. Round, bulbous silhouettes; a foot and a half of hood length; front and rear design with virtually no personality; if that's the future of design, then it's no wonder everyone's going retro. I don't believe that they represent the future of design, though. Real trendsetters are Nissan/Infiniti (except the trucks), Cadillac, and most German brands. They are the Solstices and the Escalades and the G35s of the world. These are cars that you want to look at, that you'll sometimes look twice at. And they do it with an all-new design, with nothing retro about them. The Prius is a car that you look twice at, not because of how good it looks, but because you want to confirm that something so ugly could be on the streets. In its style, the Prius is as much of an indicator of the future as the original Prius was in 1998. And wow, look at all those 1st Gen Prius clones out there... <_<

:cheers: They've been making cars for about 110 years and much of mankind still can't figure out how to utilize them correctly.

Vectra's on Epsilon, I believe. If they brought it to the US as shown, it would replace the Malibu.

It's not even that I hate retro. My main beef with retro is that it has little to no potential for redesign. The 90's Mustangs had plenty of cues from the original Mustang. The 2005 Mustang was more like, "How can we make this look as much like the original Mustang as possible using modern tools?" The Challenger is an even greater extension of that. But what will happen 5, 10, 20 years down the line, when the companies can only do one of three things... 1. Redesign = updating the headlamps, taillamps, interior, and powertrain to keep up with market trends and NHTSA standards... 2. Redesign = complete overhaul of the design using modern design elements that can only be described as "Import-inspired" because they're the only companies left coming up with new designs... 3. Redesign = infeasible, as consumers have long ago lost interest in the product. It's just a bad idea long-term. The Chrysler 300 (another retro model) makes all sorts of sales now, but how will it be doing in 4 years? Hell, I bet this retro scheme is the auto industry's way of cutting costs in the design department.

The design I had was in color, and was a crisp line drawing (think Flash cartoon). It was also a modern design, not retro. When I get home, I'll repost the image, and maybe post my Vista crossover as well.

I didn't mean it would literally be a Cadillac MAXX. But now that I look at it again... Edit: Whew... Thanks for clearing that up, Bostonspider.

Well, in that case, blatant retro remake vehicles have been on the market for NINE years (instead of eight), and not one of them has been redesigned. Hell, the current Silverado has been on the market for less time, WITH a reskin, and people are bitching that the new model can't come soon enough. :P

I never said the G6 Coupe, Lucerne, and DTS would be CotY contenders, I just said that I'd pick them over the Anime-inspired Civic. Mainly, though, I was trying to list all of this year's new models, and all the choices MT had, all the while wondering why they picked the Civic. Speaking of which, I'm not done listing... 2006 Acura RL 2006 Mazda5 2006 Mercedes CLS 2006 Mercedes R-Class (hell, it's close enough to a car) 2006 Mitsubishi Eclipse 2006 Saab 9-3 SportCombi 2006 Volkswagen Jetta 2006 Volkswagen Passat 2006 Volvo S40 On another note, didn't Motor Trend already announce the 2006 XTerra as the truck of the year? Which of the two articles came out first?

While I like Opel design, I remain generally unimpressed with Holden's designs. The only thing Holden has going for them is its blatant use of high-displacement engines and a few cool niche players. Maybe if Opel design were integrated with Holden engineering, we would have the ultimate GM import.

This is still rumor and speculation, but given the source, it's a bit more exciting than normal. Stretch Kappa? I will laugh so hard if this ends up looking like my 3-4 year old Camaro proposal (which basically looks like a hardtop Solstice with 3rd Gen Camaro cues)

I dunno if I would want to do retro. I used to have an Oldsmobile Delta (88) rendering online, but I don't remember where the file went.

Is BRX like a Cadillac Malibu MAXX? B = Epsilon size class RX = Crossover configuration Is that Edmunds' sketch or a GM sketch released by Edmunds?

Let's see... 2006 Buick Lucerne 2006 Cadillac DTS 2006 Chevrolet HHR 2006 Chevrolet Impala 2006 Pontiac G6 Coupe 2006 PONTIAC SOLSTICE What other cars are new from GM this year? While the other three entries aren't anything spectacular, the success of the HHR and the Pontiac Solstice are nothing to scoff at. Not to mention... 2006 BMW 3-Series 2006 Dodge Charger 2006 Ford Fusion 2006 Hyundai Sonata 2006 Infiniti M 2006 Lincoln Zephyr 2006 Mazda MX-5 (Miata?) 2006 Mercury Milan Hell, I'd sooner give the award to... 2006 Lexus GS 2006 Lexus IS 2006 Toyota Avalon And that's not even all of this year's new cars. All of which I'd rather own than the Civic.

The 90's Mustangs are retro? I wouldn't have known if you didn't tell me. They don't remind me of the original Mustang whatsoever. The 2005 Mustang, by comparison, is far more heavily influenced by the original Mustang designs. Where could they go from there? I can see some potential for a redesign of the New Beetle and PT Cruiser. There have been so many spy shots of supposedly redesigned Cruisers that just look like the current PT wearing camo. If DCX releases a significantly redesigned PT Cruiser in this year's auto shows, I'll retract my statement about retro design. Once an automotive design staff's only purpose is to reproduce a 30-40 year old car to meet modern NHTSA standards, the Toyotas and Hondas of the world will suddenly be the most innovative designs in America. Why doesn't the American auto industry just cut to the chase and have GM rebuild the 57 Eldorado Brougham as its "new" flagship? *Sigh* There, I feel better now.

Got this one in Supersize? (1280x1024)

This article was already posted, but yeah, way to unveil the new S-Class.

Is this like the grey plastic that we've seen over the past 15 years, except with color? Or is this more like bumper plastic? Could someone take a picture of the STS-V, HHR or SSR and show where these thermoformed plastics are being applied?

They built that brand new? If I had just seen that car on the road without knowing what it was, I'd have thought that someone took one of the old General Lees and hot-rodded it. And I must point out: the retro craze started 8 years ago with the 1998 New Beetle, and NOT ONE RETRO MODEL HAS BEEN REDESIGNED SINCE 1998. You can't redesign retro. Not significantly. If the sales dwindle, you can do only one of two things: - Release a different variant (PT convertible, New Beetle convertible, Mini convertible...) - Discontinue it outright (Plymouth PT Prowler that Chrysler could have taken, Ford Thunderbird, soon the Chevy SSR)

http://visit4info.com/details.cfm?adid=25330 This is quite possibly the most bizarre television advertisement I have ever seen...

My dad has a '72 Chevy Van that would make a perfect entry into a Demolition Derby. ...As long as a chunk of metal that big would be permitted into a race.

I think that says it right there. A V6-powered, mid-size pickup. For $44,400!? I seem to recall the Silverado SS costing LESS than that...