Report: GM May Build a Production Model Inspired by the Ciel

“If you build it, he will come”; now this may be the whisper heard by Kevin Costner in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, but it also stands true for any product –and especially cars.

No matter what your image or marketing strategy, in the long term the product itself makes or breaks a carmaker. Recent “rags to riches” stories include Hyundai, Kia and Skoda, all of which a little over a decade ago were offering below par, or at best acceptable, models but are now posting record sales year after year thanks to their new, much improved range.

Cadillac, once the default choice in the luxury car segment in North America, witnessed a streak of uncompetitive products ruin its image and sales before GM buckled up and began reshaping the brand starting with the CTS.

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Report: GM May Build a Production Model Inspired by the Ciel

“If you build it, he will come”; now this may be the whisper heard by Kevin Costner in the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, but it also stands true for any product –and especially cars.

No matter what your image or marketing strategy, in the long term the product itself makes or breaks a carmaker. Recent “rags to riches” stories include Hyundai, Kia and Skoda, all of which a little over a decade ago were offering below par, or at best acceptable, models but are now posting record sales year after year thanks to their new, much improved range.

Cadillac, once the default choice in the luxury car segment in North America, witnessed a streak of uncompetitive products ruin its image and sales before GM buckled up and began reshaping the brand starting with the CTS.

Read more »

Video: Jay Leno Meets the Cadillac Ciel Concept

Jay Leno, one of America's most famous comedians and notable petrol heads, was at hand at last week's Pebble Beach show where he met up with GM's VP of Global Design Ed Welburn for a more…personal look at the impressively styled Cadillac Ciel. Read more »

Video: Jay Leno Meets the Cadillac Ciel Concept

Jay Leno, one of America's most famous comedians and notable petrol heads, was at hand at last week's Pebble Beach show where he met up with GM's VP of Global Design Ed Welburn for a more…personal look at the impressively styled Cadillac Ciel. Read more »

World's Oldest Production Bentley Sells for Just Under a $1 Million at Pebble Beach

The world’s oldest surviving Bentley, the 1921 "chassis number 3", found a new owner at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elecance Gooding & Co. auction for $962,500 – or $960,606 more than what the car's first owner, Noel Van Raalte, paid for it 90 years ago (£ 1,150, or $1,984 in today’s exchange rate). Read more »

World's Oldest Production Bentley Sells for Just Under a $1 Million at Pebble Beach

The world’s oldest surviving Bentley, the 1921 "chassis number 3", found a new owner at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elecance Gooding & Co. auction for $962,500 – or $960,606 more than what the car's first owner, Noel Van Raalte, paid for it 90 years ago (£ 1,150, or $1,984 in today’s exchange rate). Read more »

Infiniti Announces Sportier 2013 IPL G Convertible

Nissan's luxury arm is doubling its Infiniti Performance Line [IPL for short] lineup with the addition of the new 2013 IPL G Convertible that we first saw in concept form at last year's Paris Motor Show.

IPL is Infiniti's answer to the in-house tuning divisions of its German competitors such as Audi's S brand, BMW's M department and Mercedes-Benz's AMG branch.

Scheduled to reach the market in spring of 2012, the convertible model follows the IPL G Coupe that went on sale in the States in December of 2010.

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Infiniti Announces Sportier 2013 IPL G Convertible

Nissan's luxury arm is doubling its Infiniti Performance Line [IPL for short] lineup with the addition of the new 2013 IPL G Convertible that we first saw in concept form at last year's Paris Motor Show.

IPL is Infiniti's answer to the in-house tuning divisions of its German competitors such as Audi's S brand, BMW's M department and Mercedes-Benz's AMG branch.

Scheduled to reach the market in spring of 2012, the convertible model follows the IPL G Coupe that went on sale in the States in December of 2010.

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Video Presentations of the 2013 Lexus GS and Infiniti JX Showcar

Leaving aside the elegant Cadillac Ciel which is a pure design study (for now), the big production stars of this year's edition of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance festival in Monterey, California, are the 2013 Lexus GS 350 and the production-ready Infiniti JX showcar.

We have already presented both cars in detail but we now have video footage from the presentation events that took place on Thursday evening ahead of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, and which you can watch right after the break.

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Video Presentations of the 2013 Lexus GS and Infiniti JX Showcar

Leaving aside the elegant Cadillac Ciel which is a pure design study (for now), the big production stars of this year's edition of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance festival in Monterey, California, are the 2013 Lexus GS 350 and the production-ready Infiniti JX showcar.

We have already presented both cars in detail but we now have video footage from the presentation events that took place on Thursday evening ahead of the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, and which you can watch right after the break.

Read more »

Edsel Ford’s Restored 1934 Model 40 Special Speedster Makes a Special Appearance at Monterey

Nearly eight decades after Edsel Ford, the son of the founder of the company, commissioned the one-off 1934 Model 40 Speedster, the historical sports car made a comeback at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance show in Monterey, California.

The custom made model, which served Edsel Ford as a personal roadster had changed many hands after his death in 1943 until its last owner, a Texas car collector, bought the car in 2008. After the collector’s sudden death in 2010, the Speedster returned to Edsel's home, now operated as an historic site called the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House.

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Edsel Ford’s Restored 1934 Model 40 Special Speedster Makes a Special Appearance at Monterey

Nearly eight decades after Edsel Ford, the son of the founder of the company, commissioned the one-off 1934 Model 40 Speedster, the historical sports car made a comeback at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance show in Monterey, California.

The custom made model, which served Edsel Ford as a personal roadster had changed many hands after his death in 1943 until its last owner, a Texas car collector, bought the car in 2008. After the collector’s sudden death in 2010, the Speedster returned to Edsel's home, now operated as an historic site called the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House.

Read more »

New Cadillac Ciel 4-door Convertible Concept Wows Pebble Beach Crowd [Photos + Video]

GM's Cadillac division is on a roll lately. After confirming the production of three new cars including the XTS large luxury saloon, the BMW 3-Series rivaling ATS compact sports sedan, and the ELR Coupe plug-in hybrid EV, Cadillac revealed an impressive new concept model called Ciel that looks into the future but winks at the past.

Named after the French word for sky, the Ciel is a large (5.174 mm or 203.7-in. in length) four-seat, four-door convertible with “suicide” rear doors and no B-pillar reminiscent of the 1961 Lincoln Continental convertible.

“Large, expressive luxury is innate to Cadillac and the Ciel recalls that heritage, while suggesting where the brand can go in the future,” said Clay Dean, global design director for Cadillac. “Authentic luxury is driven by experiences, not just products, and Ciel is about the experience of the journey.”

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New Cadillac Ciel 4-door Convertible Concept Wows Pebble Beach Crowd [Photos + Video]

GM's Cadillac division is on a roll lately. After confirming the production of three new cars including the XTS large luxury saloon, the BMW 3-Series rivaling ATS compact sports sedan, and the ELR Coupe plug-in hybrid EV, Cadillac revealed an impressive new concept model called Ciel that looks into the future but winks at the past.

Named after the French word for sky, the Ciel is a large (5.174 mm or 203.7-in. in length) four-seat, four-door convertible with “suicide” rear doors and no B-pillar reminiscent of the 1961 Lincoln Continental convertible.

“Large, expressive luxury is innate to Cadillac and the Ciel recalls that heritage, while suggesting where the brand can go in the future,” said Clay Dean, global design director for Cadillac. “Authentic luxury is driven by experiences, not just products, and Ciel is about the experience of the journey.”

Read more »

Infiniti Shows All-New JX 7-Seater Crossover Concept at Pebble Beach

It's been a long, slow tease, with plenty of cropped photos, but today, Infiniti unveiled the JX Concept at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance event in Monterey, California.

Even though Infiniti calls it a concept, what you see here is more or less what you'll get when the production version of the JX makes the trip to the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show.

On the outside, the JX shares several design cues with the firm's Essence concept such as the headlamp and grille design as well as the crescent-cut D-pillar, but overall, Infiniti's foray into the 7-seater crossover segment won't win any awards for its looks.

Read more »

Infiniti Shows All-New JX 7-Seater Crossover Concept at Pebble Beach

It's been a long, slow tease, with plenty of cropped photos, but today, Infiniti unveiled the JX Concept at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance event in Monterey, California.

Even though Infiniti calls it a concept, what you see here is more or less what you'll get when the production version of the JX makes the trip to the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show.

On the outside, the JX shares several design cues with the firm's Essence concept such as the headlamp and grille design as well as the crescent-cut D-pillar, but overall, Infiniti's foray into the 7-seater crossover segment won't win any awards for its looks.

Read more »

2013 Lexus GS Officially Unveiled at the Pebble Beach Festival [47 Photos + Video]

Time is up for Lexus to pull the wraps off the third-generation GS luxury sedan that made its first outing today at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California.

Based on the LF-Gh concept we saw in New York, the new GS features much bolder lines that its predecessor. Key highlights include a prominent trapezoidal grille that the company says will be a trademark of all future models, deep-set headlamps with L-shaped LED daytime running lights and an aerodynamic body that brings to mind the smaller IS.

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2013 Lexus GS Officially Unveiled at the Pebble Beach Festival [47 Photos + Video]

Time is up for Lexus to pull the wraps off the third-generation GS luxury sedan that made its first outing today at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California.

Based on the LF-Gh concept we saw in New York, the new GS features much bolder lines that its predecessor. Key highlights include a prominent trapezoidal grille that the company says will be a trademark of all future models, deep-set headlamps with L-shaped LED daytime running lights and an aerodynamic body that brings to mind the smaller IS.

Read more »

We're Almost There: 2013 Infiniti JX Crossover Teaser No7

Infiniti dropped the seventh and final teaser shot before the official unveiling of its brand-new 2013 JX luxury crossover at this week's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in California.

The best photo of the seven-passenger model to date provides us with a clear view of the vehicle's profile with its concave surface lines.

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We're Almost There: 2013 Infiniti JX Crossover Teaser No7

Infiniti dropped the seventh and final teaser shot before the official unveiling of its brand-new 2013 JX luxury crossover at this week's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in California.

The best photo of the seven-passenger model to date provides us with a clear view of the vehicle's profile with its concave surface lines.

Read more »