Auto News 5

The idea sprung, as so many great ones do, from the Dukes of Hazzard. How many times have the Duke boys evaded Rosco or made it back to the farm just in time to beat the foreclosure guy? Many. And how do they do that, other than by driving fast and jumping over barns? Exactly - they take shortcuts. The Dukes are masters of driving off into the woods, blasting down a suspiciously well-graded trail, and then slewing back onto the main road, having cut critical minutes off their journey.

Just a beautiful, composed, powerful, lush car - the proverbial velvet fist. Power delivery is immediate as are the brakes, which are very nicely modulated.

Now that this past summer's oil-price shock has awakened a new desire in Americans to find a cheaper way to fill up, we should finally see a larger-scale movement toward a fuel that's not only less expensive than gasoline but is also cleaner burning and sourced largely from within North America: compressed natural gas (or CNG). Yes, good old natural gas - the same stuff that provides heat to 52 percent of American homes - also works as a fuel for cars, and the good news is that the technology to make it happen already exists.

Car design has been driven by exterior design. That's all designers wanted to do," says GM's Chris Webb, who is responsible for exterior colors for all GM vehicles. "But the average person isn't a gearhead. They're consumers of a product, and they spend more time in than looking at it. At last our industry has said, 'Ah, we get your point now.' Fashion designers, furniture designers, all sorts of people are being hired to help reinvigorate car interiors.