Inside a modern automotive design studio, there are enormous screens, virtual-reality headsets, laser scanners, 3D printers and computers capable of rendering a car so convincingly that its paint appe
Drivers spend hours holding the steering wheel without giving much thought to what lies behind it. Remove the trim, switches and wiring, and the basic arrangement appears simple. A shaft carries th
The woodgrain paneling on an old station wagon rarely fools anyone. Even when new, the printed vinyl was not likely to be mistaken for hand-finished mahogany. It was wood in the same way a kitchen
Automotive fashion has produced few ideas quite as curious as taking a finished steel roof, covering it in textured plastic and charging the customer extra. For several decades, buyers did exactly tha
Nothing about the rear of a 1959 Cadillac suggests moderation. Its fins rise above the trunk like extravagant pieces of roadside architecture, edged in chrome and carrying two red taillights shaped li
Few automotive features can make a parked car look as alive as pop-up headlights. Turn the switch and two neat sections of bodywork rise from the hood, pause with theatrical precision and reveal the l
Starting a modern car requires so little effort that the action barely registers. Turn a key, press a button or let the vehicle recognize that its driver has climbed aboard. A second later, the engine
Dacia has redesigned the Spring and moved production from China to Slovenia. The new electric hatchback uses Renault’s AmpR Small platform, which also underpins the Twingo E-Tech, Renault 5 E-Te
Every passenger knows the type of driver. Conversation begins, the accelerator relaxes and the car gradually slows. The driver starts speaking, enthusiasm builds and the speed rises again. Nothing dan
The Subaru BRAT had a cargo bed, a tailgate and the general proportions of a very small pickup truck. American versions also arrived with two plastic seats bolted into the bed, facing backward and exp