Auto News

Well I'm not sure if calling them the enemy is exactly fair, the police are there to protect us, after all. But as any car enthusiast knows, encounters with the law are inevitable and rarely fun. Regardless, Ford will be offering a new police car to officers around the country and sending the standard work-horse, the Crown Victoria, to the bone yard. Ford announced today its 2012 Ford Interceptor will be available to officers in late 2011, and will be chock full of all types of new goodies and gadgets to fight bad guys.

I never thought I would say this, but the Taurus looks simply intimidating. The outgoing Crown Victoria was intimidating because you knew the trouble it brought, and if it was behind you it was because you had done wrong and were about to be told so by a man with a gun. Not this one. The headlight housings are blacked out, and in place of fog lights are LED running lights, that have a strobe function. There are also blue and red LEDS surrounding the new, projector headlights. The push-bar has integrated red and blue strobes, as do the side mirrors. If you tell this cop you didn't see him behind you, he should have legal permission to arrest you for being too stupid to operate a car.

Lately, car manufacturers have seemingly been focused on only one thing: gaps in the market. The Toyota Venza filled a gap I didn't know existed, somewhere between city-capable SUVs and passenger cars. BMW did the same thing with the 5 series Grand-Touring, an ugly car that's apparently for people who need more room than a trunk provides but want less space than a wagon would give them. I guess if you're constantly transporting acute triangles, it's the car for you.

Either way, the people that call the shots are building a car for everything and anything they can think of. I find this highly annoying. Except here: Chevrolet has built a new Corvette to fill the gap between the Z06 and the ZR1, called the 2011 Corvette Z06 Carbon Limited Edition. Finally a crossover vehicle that makes sense. 

One of the most exciting stories from SEMA '09 was Carroll Shelby giving the official go-ahead to Classic Recreations to build a continuation of the 1967 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, called the 1967 Mustang Fastback Shelby G.T.500CR "Performance." Classic Recreations was the only shop ever given such a  priviledge. At SEMA all they had were drawings and specs of the proposed car, and even those had me salivating (check out our story here). This was a huge undertaking, because the GT500 is one of the most coveted and loved muscle cars of all time.

After Nicolas Cage drove one ( "Eleanor," a modified GT500 that never liked being stolen) in the 2000 blockbuster re-make "Gone in 60 Seconds" the population of those that fawn over the GT500 only grew. What was once loved only by hot rod fans and guys in their 50s was now loved by everyone.

The 2011 Honda CR-Z hybrid just made its official production debut in January and is already a hotbed of tuning activity. It's a foregone conclusion that the car will receive Type-R treatment from Honda's in-house mod shop and Mugen has revealed initial details on a body kit, wheels and interior accessories they plan to offer once sales commence. Now, Spoon has jumped into the mix...

This Japanese wrench shop is introducing a host of tuning options. A suspension upgrade drops the ride height by 50mm with new coilovers in front and a spring/shock combo in back. Special calipers with 15-inch slotted discs take over braking duty. A new N1 exhaust system is in full effects with some ECU tweakage planned to add a little more kick. Spoon is also serving up some CR93 wheels in their signature blue hue to match the calipers. The body gets a minor revamp with a new carbon fiber hood, mirrors and front lip spoiler.

This year the 2010 Geneva Auto Show was like a buffet in which I hand-picked all the types of food. The manufacturers were the staples; steak, potatoes, a dessert platter, etc. I expected them to be there and taste good, as usual. But the real treats this year came from the tuners. They are the crazy geniuses that take a mass-produced car into their kitchens and create something extraordinary and (for better or worse) original. There were lots of tuners and coach-builders showing their wares at Geneva this year, and here are my 5 favorites in no specific order:

What if you could take the punching power of Mike Tyson and fit it into the body of Bruce Lee? That seems to be the motivation behind Koenigsegg's newest hypercar, the 2011 Koenigsegg Agera. Koenigsegg chose the 2010 Geneva Motor Show to display it's new creation, which was made as a celebration of the Swedish manufacturer's 15th anniversary.

Koenigsegg is calling it a new car, but it's really just an improvement on the CCX. And that's fine, because I thought the CCX was a great car. Classic supercar looks, eargasm soundtrack and performance nipping at a Veyron's heels.

Vanilla ice cream may technically be white in color, but these days white cars are far more exciting to your eyes than the grey-of-ice-creams is to your taste buds. Black used to be the color of bad boys and speed, but these days white draws far more attention. If you happen to be driving a white 2011 Jaguar XKR Special Edition no one will mistake it for goody goody.

Making its public debut at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, Jaguar is hoping to root itself a little deeper in the performance GT market. Although it wears the color of purity and restraint, the 510hp supercharged 5.0 liter V8 will run with the tarmac bad boys up to 174mph.

Mazda is celebrating the 20 anniversary of its highly successful and downright fun sports car the same way the world celebrates New Year's Eve, with each region getting its own party and count-down. Special editions for the UK and Japan have already been released, and continuing East it's now continental Europe's turn to receive their own party hat.

Debuting at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show is the 2010 Mazda MX-5 20th Anniversary Edition. Differing it from a normal MX-5 are special door handles, headlight fascia, grill surround, and silver fog lights.