The hot new Pontiac G8 GT arrived in the Motor Trend garage yesterday. It’s orange, a color called Ignition, and as it basked in G3’s neon glow, I thought: “What a long, strange trip it’s been.”

Almost exactly 10 years ago, I was sitting at lunch in Melbourne, Australia, with Tony Hyde, then chief engineer at GM’s Holden subsidiary. I was then editor-in-chief of Wheels, Australia’s top-selling auto enthusiast magazine, and I had an idea. I wanted to take one of the new VT Holden Commodores across America, from LA to New York, via Detroit.

Why? Because we at Wheels figured the Commodore SS would make a damn fine sport sedan for America: A grunty V-8 under the hood, available manual transmission, independent suspension and disc brakes all round, and — most importantly — rear wheel drive. Read more »

In our day-to-day, we come across a fair number of replicars. Some are especially convincing, while others are just plain bonkers. Far more so than the Miata-based AMX07 we brought you back in 2006, this Aston Martin V12 Vanquish replica could have had us fooled.

Made by Ontario, Canada-based Exclusive Motor Cars, this Aston replica is based on a previous-gen Ford Mustang.

Ten companies are then involved in the transformation — stretching the wheelbase, widening the track and lowering the ride height with suspension mods; crafting, painting and fitting the 34 composite body panels; custom upholstering the interior and fitting interior trim pieces; and mounting all the extra details from the headlights to the badges. Read more »

Ford has confirmed that it is working on a new rear-drive vehicle architecture for the U.S., reports Automotive News, citing comments made by Ford executives at a recent dinner.

Although Ford showed two rear-drive concepts last year at the Detroit Auto Show — the Ford Interceptor and Lincoln MKR — both were based on the existing rear-drive Mustang platform, and the company has been largely silent on its plans since.

None of the executives present, including product head Derrick Kuzak and CEO Alan Mullaly, went into detail about the company’s plans, but they did say they would build the vehicles on the new global rear-drive platform currently being developed by its Australian operations. Read more »

The car you see above is the MINI Cooper D Clubman. That’s “D” as in “Diesel”. The diminutive brand owned by BMW offers a diesel engine in Europe, but to date has not in the U.S.

We believe that MINI may correct this at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit next week. Our guess is based on a press release issued by MINI today that, while saying very little about its plan for the Detroit show other than the Clubman and Clubman S would be present, included images of a left-hand-drive Cooper D Clubman.

The press release also mentions that a talking point at MINI’s press conference will be “More Driving Pleasure, Less Fuel Consumption: The new MINI in the 2008 Model Year”. Read more »

In advance of its public unveiling at the Geneva show in March, and after releasing a teaser photo, Volkswagen’s Czech subsidiary Skoda has additional photos and details on its upcoming new flagship.

The aptly-named Superb is based on the Volkswagen Passat platform, though stretched out to offer more space. Its range of features includes direction-changing headlights, a new electronic climate control system, and automatic parking assist.

Compared with the model it replaces, the new Superb grows another 35mm longer and 18mm wider, but hunkers down 8mm lower and shrinks in wheelbase by 42mm, actually increasing the overhangs contrary to industry trends. Read more »

The Chevrolet Colorado hasn’t been much of a sales success recently. Despite competing in what many feel is an untapped market, the Colorado’s sales numbers in 2007 slipped by almost 20% compared to 2006.

The solution? Possibly offering a truck below the Colorado in size that combines a small footprint with a fuel-efficient engine.

Mike Levine over at Pickuptruck.com sat down with Chevy’s General Manager, Ed Peper, and asked if there’s a market for a vehicle similar to the Toyota A-BAT concept bound for Detroit. Read more »

Audi has already publicly revealed it will be showing two vehicles at this year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit. One it called a “stunning” concept car and the other is a new production car making its world debut.

One of the two cars will reportedly be an Audi R8 powered by the brand’s V12 TDI diesel engine, this according to German mag Auto Motor und Sport.

While the R8 TDI is likely destined for production, it’s probably not the production car that Audi will debut in Detroit. If it’s the “stunning” concept, consider us stunned. Read more »