MotorTrend December 2010

“UNLIKE MOST OF THE PRODUCTS OUT OF DETROIT OVER THE PAST 30 YEARS, THE VOLT IS NOT A CATCH-UP CAR, OR A ME-TOO CAR, OR A CAR OF ZERO INTEREST TO CONSUMERS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES.” YOU’LL FIND a lot of pages devoted to the new Chevy Volt in this issue. That’s because the Volt is one of the most significant automobiles to come out of Detroit in the 60-year history of this magazine. Few cars have been as anticipated—or as controversial—as this compact Chevrolet. Before we go any further, let’s be clear what the Volt is not. It is not the automobile reinvented. It is not the savior of General Motors. It is not going to stop polar ice caps from melting, preserve the Amazon rainforest, or prevent the…

Five new cars are in the works LOTUS REVEALED a staggering five new sports cars at the Paris auto show, to be launched globally over the next four years. First up is the 2012 Esprit, a mid-engine supercar with power from Lotus’ supercharged version of the Lexus IS-F 5.0-liter V-8, coupled to a seven-speed twin-clutch transmission. It makes 550 horsepower in standard form, up to 620 in R trim, and redlines at 8500 rpm. Performance is claimed to match its key rivals, the Ferrari 458 and Porsche 911 Turbo. Lotus says it weighs 3300 pounds. The body structure is Lotus’ patented aluminum frame, for the first time without fiberglass body panels. Instead, the Esprit uses carbon-fiber side panels and aluminum front and rear ends, doors, and roof. The company will…

HOW IS MERCEDES-BENZ’S new California advanced design studio coming along? Not well, if Joel Piaskowski’s sudden move from the studio (he was its chief) to Ford in Dearborn is any indication. Piaskowski is the highly talented designer whom Mercedes lured from Hyundai in January 2008. On October 1, he went over to Ford, where he reports to executive design director Moray Callum. From 2003 to 2008, Piaskowski was head of Hyundai’s California design studio, where he led work on the Genesis coupe, Sonata, Tucson, and concepts HCD8, HCD9 Talus, and HCD10 Hellia. He was key in transforming Hyundai’s image from cheap and dowdy to aspirational. Piaskowski began his career in the late 1980s at General Motors, working on Chevy, Pontiac, Opel/Vauxhall/Holden, and Buick, as well as GM’s old Asian partners,…

DESIGNER Ken Okuyama’s love for cars is exceeded only by his love for wristwatches, especially those from TAG Heuer. He prizes these precision pieces so much that he’s created a sports car inspired by a Grand Carrera watch. His KO7 roadster might employ a Lotus Elise R platform and powertrain, but that’s where the similarity ends. Many may remember the 51-year-old Okuyama as Pininfarina’s design director. He was the man behind the Ferrari Enzo, Maserati Quattroporte, and Maserati Birdcage concept. Since leaving Pininfarina in 2006, he has expanded his design focus to encompass everything from teapots to eyewear, furniture to motorcycles, buildings to robots, and even the next-generation Shinkansen bullet train. “I’ve always loved collecting watches,” Okuyama says. “And I get a real buzz out of seeing the way they…

CADILLAC is considering a coupe design for its $125,000 flagship (see “Zeta Chevy sport sedan is back on,” “Trend,” November). This isn’t as strange as it sounds. From 1934-37, Cadillac built 20 production V-16 Aerodynamic Coupes. Cars like the front-drive 1967 Eldorado, the 1987 Allanté, and last decade’s Corvette-based XLR also served as flagships. A Cadillac coupe flagship would compete, more or less, with such cars as the Bentley Continental GT. The planned flagship is not to be confused with a new Zeta-based rear-drive large sedan. That car will come in under six digits and will be larger and more luxurious than the CTS and XTS, aimed at the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7 Series. BMW will power the next Saab 9-3, scheduled as a ’13 model. The BMW Group…

WHATEVER your opinion of Steven Rattner and the government’s $81.9-billion federal bailout of GM, Chrysler, their financing arms, and their suppliers, Overhaul is required reading to understand the auto industry. As chief advisor of the U.S. Treasury’s Automotive Task Force (or Team Auto), Rattner was allowed an inside view that no GM or Chrysler executive would ever reveal. The mismanagement described in Overhaul (2010, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $27) will confirm the worst you’ve suspected of Chrysler and especially General Motors. GM had finance guys running the company, and those guys—Rick Wagoner, Fritz Henderson, and Ray Young—left its finances in shambles. An incompetent GM board backed incompetent management. Although Rattner had to fire Wagoner, he wanted retiring GM Chairman Ed Whitacre to keep Henderson as CEO. “When we pitched Fritz” to…