Auto News 5

A 380-hp hybrid that manages only 22 mpg in the city and costs at least $97,125 sounds like Marie Antoinette's answer to global climate change. Porsche mostly makes up for the ridiculousness of this concept, though, with a level of execution few automakers can marshal. Just take a look at the Marsala-colored leather cabin. It combines the purpose of a drivers' car -- clear gauges, a small steering wheel, and the best bucket seats in the industry -- with the elegance and comfort of a luxury car -- leather and real metal everywhere, along with plush carpets and incredible attention to detail.

The 2013 SRT Viper nearly didn't make it. Chrysler put the Viper brand up for sale in 2008, seeing little justification for a 600-hp sports car when the company was fighting for survival. Luckily, there were no takers, Chrysler made it through a government-directed bankruptcy and became a ward of Fiat, and the Viper was saved. A prototype for the fifth-generation Viper was unveiled at a Chrysler dealer conference in September, 2010, and the production model was shown at the 2012 New York auto show in April. Orders for the new Viper begin on November 5, production at the revamped Conner Avenue Assembly plant in Detroit begins in late November, and first deliveries commence in late December or early January. But before final production specifications were approved, Chrysler invited a small group of journalists to GingerMan Raceway in South Haven, Michigan, to drive a pair of development cars around the 1.88-mile road course.