Auto News 5

The arrival of the controversial X5M and X6M might be confirmation that BMW has dumped every engineering principle that made its M cars so distinctive and consistently good for the last thirty years. Until now, all M cars have had a high-revving, normally aspirated engine, a manual or automated manual gearbox, rear-wheel drive, and a sedan or sports car shell. You won't find a single one of these qualities in M's latest efforts.

Just like you, we always want to know what's coming next from Detroit, Tokyo, Stuttgart, Munich, Los Angeles, and all the other places where automotive engineers and designers dream and scheme on our behalf. Car companies, of course, are loath to share information on new products lest their competitors try to copy them--or you decide not to buy the cars they already have on dealer lots. Car companies, though, are simply groups of people, and some of them have a hard time keeping secrets. So, we poke, we prod, we cajole, and we uncover information that becomes the basis for our annual Sneak Preview issue. As always, some of our information is educated guesswork based on hints, insinuations, hunches. Make no mistake, though, these cars are on their way, even though details may change. Ladies and gentlemen: our list of 136 cars coming over the next few years...

Malicious tongues claim that the X1's psychedelic-swirl paint job marks the ultimate expression of Chris Bangle's flame- surface design philosophy, but this is not the case. The wild circles printed on thick adhesive foil do a better job of disguising a car's contours than the matte-black cladding used in the past. It was required attire for the preproduction prototype X1 that we drove.

There are very good reasons for a June vacation in Italy's Umbria region: Ancient villas and Roman ruins, fine wine, fantastic food, pungent espresso, beautiful people, spectacular churches and museums, and a heavenly golden light at sunset, to name just a few. Little of this resonated with the four offspring being dragged to Italy by our friends, Tom and Lisa Boniface, from Poland, Ohio. (Yes, you recognize that surname. Brother Bob designed the Chevy Volt.) But to Italian car-besotted Tommy, 18, and Joe, 15, it all came together when the magnanimous Maserati press office delivered a luscious, black 2007 Quattroporte Sport GT S - with a startling red interior - in my name to our hotel in Rome for our holiday.