Wednesday, November 18, 2009

New cars in 2009 - what newcomers will we remember in ten years?

2009 was a year of many new car models. In general the car landscape becomes more and more diversified with all these cross-over and hybrid concepts. However a key question is what new car announcement will we remember in five or ten years! Well, I'll give it a try and try the crystal ball:
1) Lotus Evora - it was the first really new Lotus being announced for the last 10 years
2) Ferrari 458 Italia - the successor of the highly successful 430 can almost everything better and looks both modern and gorgeous
3) Aston-Martin V12 Vantage - what a combination of styling and engine
4) Lexus LF-A - it is too expensive, will not sell as expected and production will stop early. We will remember it as an expensive failure and due to the small number produced it may be a collector's item.
5) BMW 5 series GT - because this is a car nobody has been waiting for and fills a niche that doesn't properly exist. We will remember it as one of the bigger flops in category innovation.

Now, many of you may think that there are important cars missing on this list. For example the new McLaren MP4-12C. But despite being announced this year production will only start in 2011 or so, so that's a no go. What about the Mercedes SLS? This could be a contender, but it was announced and talked about for so long, that I am not even sure what year it would fit in. What about the Porsche 911 GT3 or Turbo then. Well, these are remarkable cars but much less of a sensation than the 458 in my eyes. If somebody misses other cars that should be named, then just propose them!

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