Aston Martin makes sports cars, not sedans, right? Well, yes--but don't tell Aston its four-door Rapide prototype isn't a sports car. Other high-end automakers are building four-doors that they call "sports cars" or even "coupes," such as Bentley with its Continental Flying Spur and Mercedes with its CLS-Class. Aston's Rapide is of this ilk: technically a four-door, but with sleek and beautiful styling that seems closer to that of sports cars. Another stunning Aston design.
The Rapide shares mechanical underpinnings with Aston's DB9 and V-8 Vantage two-doors and uses a nearly identical version of the DB9's V-12 engine.
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2.Chevrolet Camaro
GM's mean-looking Chevrolet Camaro prototype has been one of the few pieces of good news from the company in the last 12 months. The prototype, a modern take on a 1969 Camaro, has an unapologetic look, and GM is reportedly not going to allow car clinics and focus groups to mess with it.
The Camaro prototype used a 400-hp V-8 engine.
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3.Chrysler Imperial
Like Shaft, Chrysler's Imperial prototype sedan is one bad mother. And like Chrysler's popular 300, the Imperial is supposed to take Detroit sedans back to their glory days, when they were built with plenty of size and a sinister attitude. Somewhat unattractive, the Imperial has more severe styling than the 300. Chrysler wants to turn the prototype into reality.
Notice how high up the window sills are. Their positioning recalls that of the 300, and of Rolls-Royce sedans.
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4.Dodge Challenger
Dodge's Challenger had the same mission as Chevrolet's Camaro when both cars were unveiled at January's North American International Auto Show in Detroit: to give its parent company a Mustang-fighter. While Dodge wants to put the Challenger into production, it would not be able to do so for about three more years.
The big question for the Challenger and the Camaro is, will the hype die down? The Mustang was a smash hit at first, but now its inventory is spiking. And while the Challenger and Camaro were successful show cars, we have to wonder if the market for retro, two-door muscle coupes will be dead when the Challenger and Camaro come to market.
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5.Lamborghini Miura
Lamborghini's Miura takes retro to another level; it is nearly a replica of its predecessor. That makes sense, however, considering that the original Miura of the 1960s and '70s is one of the most-admired car designs.
Lamborghini denies reports that it is planning to put the Miura into production.
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6.Maybach Exelero
Maybach, the maker of $300,000-plus sedans, produced the Exelero prototype on the request of Fulda, a German tire company. Fulda wanted to use the vehicle to study a new generation of wide tires, but the concept car has a more significant purpose: to inject the Maybach brand with a raciness it currently lacks. The Exelero is supposed to look like a Maybach of the 1930s.
With its 700-hp, twin-turbo V-12, the Exelero reached 218 mph on the high-speed track at Nardo, Italy.
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7.Mazda Senku
Mazda has had a nice 12-month run with concept cars. We almost included both the Senku prototype and the company's handsome Kabura sports-car prototype, but felt the Senku adhered more to the spirit of history's best concept cars. That is, it has sleek, futuristic looks that recall, in spirit, such all-time legends as Bertone's Lancia Stratos 0 prototype of 1970 and certain Pininfarina Ferrari concepts of the late '60s and early '70s.
The Senku, which appeared at last year's Tokyo Motor Show, is a four-seat sports car powered by a rotary engine.
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8.Mercedes-Benz bionic car
Mercedes based the shape of its bionic car prototype on a tropical fish called the "boxfish." The company says the fish is "streamlined and therefore represents an aerodynamic ideal." Mercedes engineers constructed a model of the boxfish, put it in a wind tunnel in Germany, found it to be unusually aerodynamic and turned the idea behind the model into a vehicular prototype. The result is pretty stylish.
The bionic car allows Mercedes to examine the potential of bionics--the application of biological principles to engineering systems--in automobile development.
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9.Nissan GT-R Proto
Nissan's sexy GT-R Proto concept stole the Tokyo Motor Show from Ferrari and Audi, the latter of which had a Lamborghini-powered model on display. The GT-R is a Nissan brand name with an international cult following, despite being unavailable in the U.S.
Nissan said in a recent statement that the GT-R Proto "provides a clear indication of the final design direction for the production model to be launched in 2007."
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10.Volkswagen EcoRacer
The purpose of Volkswagen's EcoRacer prototype is to have a sports car with nearly unheard-of fuel economy. The EcoRacer looks beautiful and gets almost 70 mpg.
Volkswagen displayed the EcoRacer at the Tokyo Motor Show.
The purpose of Volkswagen's EcoRacer prototype is to have a sports car with nearly unheard-of fuel economy. The EcoRacer looks beautiful and gets almost 70 mpg.
Volkswagen displayed the EcoRacer at the Tokyo Motor Show.
Lamborghini's Miura takes retro to another level; it is nearly a replica of its predecessor. That makes sense, however, considering that the original Miura of the 1960s and '70s is one of the most-admired car designs.
Lamborghini denies reports that it is planning to put the Miura into production.