After building cars for more than a century, the motor industry discovered the power of its heritage in public perception. Today, every manufacturer who is able to do so draws heavily on its past with evocative model names and styling cues. For other manufacturers, there...
The Continental R formalized the revival of the Bentley marque, which had degenerated into nothing more than a Rolls-Royce with a different radiator grille, in the years since Rolls-Royce's 1931 takeover of the company. The first Bentley to carry a distinctive body of its own...
Extreme performance cars came to the fore in the 1990s with models that broke both styling conventions and speed records. Manufacturers used technology and materials from Formula 1 to set new benchmarks for what production models could look like and how they behaved on the...
A string of legendary road and race cars has borne the name of Ferdinand Porsche, one of the 20th century's finest automotive engineers. The marque he founded has been synonymous with performance cars since the 1950s, and its most famous product, the Porsche 911, has...
With the launch of the Dodge Viper in 1992, Chrysler opened a new chapter in the vibrant history of the U.S. muscle car. Instead of the large-capacity V8 engine that was traditional for the breed, the Viper had an 8-liter V10-a configuration that had recently...
By the 1990s the everyday family car had been transformed. Improvements had been made in the unsung areas of car development, such as soundproofing, windproofing, heating, and ventilation. Electronics to make engines start instantly and run smoothly through a wide rev band were also introduced....
In the 1970s and 80s, other than a few notable exceptions, North American car design seemed to lag behind Europe. U.S. car manufacturers were mildly updating their over-large, slab-like sedans, while smaller Japanese cars picked away at U.S. market share. Finally, in the 1990s U.S....
This was the decade of technology, as manufacturers strove to achieve more performance than ever before. Restricted by regulations, they designed to reduce speeds and danger. Active suspension, active differentials, traction control, and semi-automatic transmissions were among the developments aimed at helping drivers get the...
With 7.8 million cars and trucks rolling off the production line in 2009, Toyota is the world's largest vehicle producer. A pioneer of hybrid technology, this Japanese marque prides itself on quality and innovation. Its range extends from tiny economy cars through state-of-the-art sports and...
The 1990s saw the resurgence of sports cars, as fears that legislation would ban open cars receded. Manufacturers were divided on whether the best sporting solution was the traditional front-engine rear-drive, mid-engine rear-drive, or front-engine front-drive. Rounded styling returned, along with the arrival of retro—and...