Original Auto Car Magazine: 2009-11-29

2011 Cadillac CTS Coupe: Up Close

The CTS coupe, a car GM placed on hiatus during its bankruptcy, joins a sedan and wagon to give the CTS nameplate as many variants as a typical BMW or Audi might offer. True to the CTS coupe concept shown at last year’s Detroit auto show, this is no watered-down production version — the arcing taillights, central exhaust pipes and brash C-pillars are the stuff of concept cars and will make it to driveways.

GM went that direction with the Chevrolet Camaro, and owners paid a price for it in visibility, backseat room and trunk space. I’m glad to see that isn’t the case for the CTS coupe. The car’s sightlines are decent, though I could only gauge this in the auto show's static setting. The C-pillars are small enough and the rear head restraints are also tiny, keeping blind spots minimal; sizable side mirrors should keep adjacent traffic on your radar. The front seat belts need no device that keeps them within reach; they’re easy to grab, which is unusual in a two-door car.

I’m not wild about the coupe’s electronic door handles. Like in the Chevy Corvette, you reach into a crevice to press a button that unlatches it. That’s fine, but it also means the cabin swaps the CTS sedan’s tasteful door handles for plastic buttons. It may be high-tech, but it feels low-rent.

The backseat is a squeeze to get into, but adults should find legroom manageable. I’m 5 feet 11 inches tall and my head mashed the headliner. If I leaned back, I wouldn’t quite reach the rear glass — a more tenable position, at least until the road got bumpy.

At 10.5 cubic feet, the trunk is small. Granted, buying a luxury coupe for the trunk room is like getting a Whopper for the fiber. Like fast food, the CTS coupe is a guilty pleasure.

Front angle

Profile

Front

Grille

Nose

Side

Tail

Rear angle

Exhaust

Badge

Taillight

Badge

Dashboard

Gearshift

Front seat

Trunk

Rear seats

Dashboard

Door

Headlight

Mercedes Benz

Chrysler Car

Chrysler Interior

Chrysler

Chrysler Group LLC on Friday launched a year-end sale for nearly all of its 2010 model year vehicles with zero percent financing or up to $4,000 cash to draw customers during the typically slower winter months.

Chrysler, which emerged from a U.S. government-funded bankruptcy in June under the management control of Italy's Fiat SpA (FIA.MI), said the program runs to January 4. It covers nearly all vehicles except the Dodge Challenger muscle car.

Chrysler has fared worse than the U.S. auto industry overall this year as the sector has slumped to the worst sales levels since the early 1980s. Through October, Chrysler sales were off 39 percent, while the industry was down 25.4 percent.Earlier in November, Chrysler announced a five-year plan that would have the automaker break even on an operating basis in 2010 and on a net basis by 2011 based in part on restoring market share lost in its slide toward bankruptcy.Chrysler has relied on more aggressive incentives than rivals during the downturn. Edmunds.com has said the true cost of Chrysler incentives in October were about $3,219 per vehicle sold, compared with a $2,468 industry average.The automaker has about 183,000 vehicles in inventory, with roughly 88 percent as 2010 models and nearly all of the rest 2009 model year vehicles.For the year-end program, Chrysler is offering $3,000 cash or zero percent financing on 2010 Chrysler brand vehicles. It is offering $4,000 cash or zero percent financing on Jeeps and $2,500 cash or zero percent financing on most Dodge cars.Chrysler is also offering 1.9 percent financing for 60 months on its Dodge Viper sports car.Chrysler is offering $2,500 cash and low or zero percent financing on 2010 Ram pickups and up to $5,500 cash or zero percent financing on most 2009 Ram trucks.

maybach cars pics

Maybach-Motorenbau GmbH is a German luxury car manufacturer and it was founded in 1909 by Wilhelm Maybach with his son Karl Maybach as director. The company was originally a subsidiary of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH and was itself known as "Luftfahrzeug-Motoreinbau GmbH" until 1918. Today, the brand is owned by Daimler AG and based in Stuttgart.

maybach cars

maybach cars

maybach cars

Maybach Exelero

Maybach Landaulet

Maybach Exelero Show Car

Maybach Zeppelin DS

Maybach brabus

Maserati began officially in 1926 when the Bologna, Italy, brothers who had previously worked for Diatto creating race cars decided that, after Diatto stopped making race cars, that they would make their own.

They created a race car that won the 1926 Targa Florio race. This race had been held in the mountains of Palermo, Sicily and was both a dangerous and treacherous race that included hairpin turns and temperature differences due to the elevation differences throughout the race. Because this was a difficult circuit to drive around, winning the race brought prestige to the brothers. Enough to send them down the path of manufacturing race cars. Brother Mario created the logo that is known across the world and these brothers began creating four, six, eight, and sixteen cylinder race cars.

Although, brother Alfieri was the driver that won that first race that Maserati had entered, in 1932 he passed away. With his passing, the other brothers continued along for five more years, eventually selling their parts of the company to Adolfo Orsi in 1937. However, these brothers remained an active part of the car designing and took engineering roles with the new company when it relocated to Modena.

In 1939, Maserati was the winner of the Indianapolis five hundred in successive years. Then the war came and Maserati stopped making cars and instead concentrated on the war effort. It was a time of trials and tribulations that pitted Maserati against Volkswagen. Maserati attempted to create a car for Mussolini, hoping to do so before Ferry Porsche did for Adolph Hitler. Of course, they failed in that V-sixteen towncar concept. But, the technology was useful in designing the A6 series which became popular after the war.

After the war, Maserati went back to creating race cars. In 1950, Maserati won the World Championship. In 1993, Fiat became the owner of the Maserati name and in 1999, Ferrari, which was also owned by Fiat, lent a V8 engine, as well as an automated manual transmission to the 2002 models known as the Spyder and Coupe with some success. It should come as no surprise that Maserati was created in Italy, the home of Ferrari and Lamborghini.