2006 Future & Concept Cars

New front bumper and lower air dam, a restyled front grille and headlights, more aerodynamic side mirrors, and refreshed rear bumper and taillamps.... more

BMW serves up two surprises with its long-awaited E92 3 Series coupe (the convertible, coming later, is codenamed E93), a 300-horse, 300-pound-foot twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six and those long, horizontal taillamps.... more

The Ford REFL3X's mission is to demonstrate that small can be sporty, fun, practical, and--here's the tricky part--aspirational (that's industry lingo for "profitable").... more

VW Chief Wolfgang Bernhard is finally putting some flesh into his promise to introduce 10 new VW-branded vehicles by the end of the decade, even though some models haven't been determined.... more

While GM and Ford dither over performance vehicles, DaimlerChrysler is pushing to ensure its SRT franchise keeps getting bigger and better.... more

Volkswagen says niche models are its future: "Today this spectrum ranges from the Fox to the Phaeton," says one well-placed insider.... more

Peel the black electrical tape off the C-pillar, and you can see that the 3 Series coupe's classic Hoffmeister kink works well in harmony with Chris Bangle's "flame surfacing" on the next model, expected this fall.... more

While foreign automakers are in a race to catch up with Mercedes-Benz's CLS "four-door coupe," Chrysler could become the first automaker to bring a four-door retractable-top sedan to market.... more

Nissan unveiled its GT-R Proto at the Tokyo motor show, a "concept car" that design chief Shiro Nakamura says is 80 to 90 percent of the 2008 production model that'll be launched at the 2007 Tokyo show.... more

Conti GT drops its top... more

Suzuki plans to triple North American annual sales from 80,000 to 250,000 in five years.... more

Honda is rumored to be testing a new aluminum-block V-8 in the Ridgeline pickup truck.... more

Dodge will lead the cars built off the next-generation Chrysler LX platform--called LY--with a new Challenger ponycar for the 2010 model year.... more

The trickle of cars currently exported from China is about to become a flood.... more

Mitsubishi is previewing its upcoming new Evo X with two show cars: the Concept-Sportback displayed at Frankfurt and this Concept-X, set to be unveiled at Tokyo. While the Sportback is a hatchback, the Concept-X is a sedan and therefore even closer to the new... more

Is it folly to pull forward big, fuel-inefficient trucks to bring in cash flow, just as SUV sales seem to be waning due to gas prices and crossover competition?... more

Caught on the road to production, the new Accent looks to be a worthy competitor in the small-sedan marketplace.... more

The Hummer team pulled off an impressive feat, as challenging as ascending the Rubicon Trail, by building the H3 off the Chevrolet Colorado platform.... more

The 2006.5 Audi A4 Cabriolet gets a mid-cycle freshening mirroring that of the 2005.5 A4 sedan. That means the convertible's formerly geometric face gets amoeba-like headlights and a giant floor-to-ceiling grille, and the steering and suspension have been twea... more

The BMW Z4 Coupe Concept is really not a concept at all: it's a production car we'll see next summer. As the name implies, it's a Z4 roadster with a stationary roof. The fixed top makes it stiffer and lighter, so it should be a better driver and a viable track... more