Auto News 5

Ambling by 120 East Liberty a year ago today, you could have stumbled upon a snarling Nissan GT-R, hormonal Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, massively seductive Audi R8, sumptuous BMW 750iL, and the hauling champ we knew as the Dodge Ram. But we knew that, eventually, all good things must come to an end, and those vehicles have since departed.

Giorgetto Giugiaro is the Car Designer of the Century, according to 132 (relatively) young automotive journalists back in 1999. Their grasp of automotive history seems to have been concentrated in their own adult lifetimes, however. Whether GG's influence is greater than Battista "Pinin" Farina's or Harley Earl's is very much open to debate, but there is no question that he is one of the most prolific designers alive. "I have designed cars for every major company but Honda, and one day I will do that," says the Maestro. The merging of his firm Italdesign with Volkswagen may signify an end to his half century of intense activity, but he remains a powerful and highly influential force in automobile design.

It took 110 years for the Porsche car company to revisit its founder's concept of a hybrid powertrain with an internal-combustion engine plus electric motors. The Porsche 918 Spyder is one of the most astonishing concept cars ever presented, by anyone. To claim -- and be able to prove, no doubt -- that this missile can get around that crinkly old racetrack in the Eifel mountains faster than a Carrera GT and provide 78-mpg fuel economy (if you respect speed limits) is utterly amazing. Yet, given the source, it's much easier to believe those claims than to question them.