Auto News 5

Automobile Magazine has just taken delivery of a stunning cashmere silver metallic 2009 BMW 750Li as the newest addition to our Four Seasons test fleet. Our long-wheelbase luxo-cruiser has a sumptuous oyster Nappa leather interior, and to help sample all of the long-wheelbase 7's new technology, we've piled on almost every available option. By skipping only the sport, luxury rear seating, and driver assistance packages, our 750Li's sticker ballooned to a recession-busting $103,720. But there isn't much point in driving a stripper 7-series, now is there?

Mercedes Benz is marching onward in its future styling direction with the introduction of the 2010 E-class Coupe. The CLK-coupe name disappears and the replacement will be called the E-class coupe.

There is a chance - just a chance - that this odd-looking little bubble of a car, with its dime-size wheels and tiny tailpipe and weird two-cylinder whir, might turn out to be the Ford Model T of the twenty-first century. True, there's plenty that might prevent the new Tata Nano from causing the seismic shock that some predict it will inflict on the global car industry. But like other transformative cars, it has a quantum-leap quality. The Model T revolutionized how cars are made, the Mini rethought how they're laid out, and at $2500, the Nano turns upside down our previous ideas about how much cars should cost.

If Ford resuscitated the Taurus nameplate for consumer appeal, then the 2010 Ford Taurus SHO's rebirth is strictly for the enthusiasts.

We never found Acura's TSX wanting for power, but in order to fill the gap between its entry-level model and the larger TL, the company's added a V-6-powered TSX model for 2010.

One of the few bright spots in what has been a bleak, anxious period for the auto industry has been Hyundai. Last year, the Korean automaker made a clean break from its econocar roots with the Genesis, an honest-to-goodness luxury sedan that took home North American Car of the Year honors. More recently, it let journalists drive the Genesis Coupe, a sport compact-cum-pony car that might just crash the new Mustang and Camaro's coming out parties. The ink hasn't even dried yet on those driving impressions, but that's not stopping Hyundai from revealing its next moves, namely, a racing program and more importantly the Genesis Coupe R-Spec.

Lest you thought seven trim levels were too few for the F-150, here's another for the portfolio: The 2010 Ford Harley-Davidson F-150.

Does the 2010 Ford Transit Connect look familiar? It should. Aside from a few cosmetic details, the production-intent cargo van is virtually identical to prototypes shown at last year's Chicago auto show.

Scion's "United by Individuality" ad campaign along with all the custom accessories available for the 2009 tC can be a bit daunting to a buyer. Scion customers may even feel intimidated by the peer pressure to "pimp their ride." Scion has sought to remedy the problem with the latest iteration of the tC, the release series 5.0.

As this is written, the latest James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, is exploding across movie screens, and once again Daniel Craig's Agent 007 is at the wheel of an Aston Martin DBS. Unfortunately, the car doesn't fare much better than the DBS in 2006's Casino Royale, which 007 managed to total after just a brief spin. (One wonders how much Aston Martin paid for this privilege, and whether the brand's marketers read the scripts.)

At 28, he founded the world's largest supplier of cell-phone batteries. His company also supplies low-cost batteries for One Laptop Per Child. In 2003, BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu, then 36, bought a car company, gave it the BYD name, set up an R&D team of 3000 engineers, and on December 15, 2008, put the world's first plug-in electric car on the market.

"I'm a little surprised that you want this car in America," said Nissan's bemused senior vice president and chief creative officer, Shiro Nakamura. The worldly Nakamura made an international splash when he arrived from Isuzu in 1999, with vehicles like the artful Murano, the revived 350Z, and the FX45. But as anyone who has been to Japan (or seen Nissan's Pivo 2 concept) knows, there are hometown conveyances that just don't translate off the islands. "When we made the first Cube, we had no intention of selling it outside of Japan. We thought it was probably too different, too unique for American people. But we wanted to test it."