We just told you about Bob Lutz' comments that the Saturn Astra is too expensive and not making any money in the U.S., but that may change when the next iteration arrives. Of course, the next Astra will debut in Europe first as an Opel (and Vauxhall in the UK), but we suspect that GM will offer it in the U.S. again, especially if the automaker can build it locally so that it's not dogged by a weak currency exchange like the current model. Though not scheduled to debut until late next year at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, the fourth-gen Astra is making an appearance today in a couple of sketches released by General Motors Europe. The design is said to take direct inspiration from the new Insignia, which itself will become the next-gen Saturn Aura. The all-new Astra will be based on the Delta II platform with vehicles like the Chevy Cruze and Volt and feature a new range of fuel efficient engines, clever packaging solutions and trick technology like the Insignia's Front Camera System that recognizes road signs.
Suzuki is said to be unveiling the Kizashi 3 at next week's New York Auto Show, so we thought we'd refresh our memories about the Manga-styled Kizashi 1 and 2 concepts we saw at the Frankfurt Motor Show and Tokyo Motor Show. There's still no information about what powertrain (we've heard talk of a V8) or platform any car derived from the Kizashi concepts would ride upon, but we like where Suzuki's going with the idea. We expect that the Kizashi 3 may be nearly production-feasible, from what Suzuki has to say. Does this mean there's a sports sedan in the offing for Suzuki? Possibly. Or not. For a taste of what it might be like to see one of these cars actually out in the wild, we've turned up some videos of the concepts riding around in a digital world.
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If you were born on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain, the Trabant should need no introduction. Ditto if you're a U2 fan. The notorious little sedan, nicknamed "Trabi", was made in East Germany and exported around the world, mostly inside the communist bloc. Not exactly the most ideal candidate for resurrection, but while it may not be as fondly remembered as the original Fiat 500, Volkswagen Beetle or the Mini, the Trabi has a cult following and has been featured in countless movies and video games. U2 featured the Trabi on its Zoo TV tour in the early '90s, and one hangs from the ceiling in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH.
At the last Frankfurt Motor Show, a German model-carmaker showed a mockup of what a re-born Trabi might look like to gauge public reaction. Herpa secured the rights to use the name, and has now announced a deal with IndiKar, an automotive components manufacturer based in Saxony (where the original Trabant was made) to build it. Herpa and IndiKar hope to have a full-size concept ready to show by the next Frankfurt show, which doesn't roll around until the Fall of the Berlin Wall 2009. In the meantime, Herpa is putting a toy version on the market to be unveiled at the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg in February.
Last year at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show, MINI debuted the production version of its larger Clubman model and, as MINI's marketing agency is wont to do, created a spectacle with this installation called The Other Ranch. We've learned that it's gone on the road and been installed in Brussels for this year's European Motor Show. It's inspired by the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX where a man half-buried 10 old Cadillacs in the ground at the precise angle of the Great Pyramid in Egypt. The Other Ranch by MINI is comprised of four Clubmans and is so named because we're supposed to consider the new Clubman the "Other MINI". We didn't see The Other Ranch in Frankfurt while covering the show there, but this spectacle was too interesting not to share. Check out the pics in our gallery below and have fun coming up with captions for four Clubmans buried up to their windshields in dirt.
Red and rare. Save for a few vegetarians among us, that's how we like our steaks, and that's how we like our Ferraris. But some are so rare, even the bloodlust-driven connoisseurs among us don't know what to do with it. Take this one-off Ferrari Conciso. It's absolute carpaccio. But nobody seems to be biting.
The Conciso was built by German studio Michalak Design based on the mechanicals of a 1989 Ferrari 328 GTS (s/n 80962). As the name implies, the idea was to trim the chassis down to its bare essentials. The car has no doors and little in the way of a windshield to speak of. The driver and passenger hop over the sides like an F1 driver, hunker down into the racing buckets, buckle the competition harnesses and strap on the helmets, stored in special compartments inside the cabin.
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