Shortly after announcing that the Converj Concept was giving birth to a production version called the "ELR", Cadillac went to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and unveiled their newest concept car, the Ciel.
Pronounced as "C-L", which translates to ’sky’ in French, the Ciel is a four-seat convertible tourer that completely blows the lid off of Cadillac’s new design language, taking it to a level that we’ve never seen before.
As a brand that built its name on the popularity of its old-school grandeur, Cadillac is returning to that game plan while adding modern-day luxury to the mix. The Ciel is the epitome of a large and expressive luxury car that suggests how Cadillac’s rich history can sync perfectly well authentic luxury and high-end technology of today’s time.
"Large, expressive luxury is innate to Cadillac and the Ciel recalls that heritage, while suggesting where the brand can go in the future," said Clay Dean, global design director for Cadillac.
"Authentic luxury is driven by experiences, not just products, and Ciel is about the experience of the journey."
UPDATE 09/07/11: Cadillac’s return to prominence comes as a result of an aggressive approach by GM to revamp the entire line-up and return it back to its stature as the premier American luxury brand. In line with the development of a new production flagship car, Cadillac may have its sights set on green lighting the recently-launched Ciel Concept. While nothing is official as of yet, we believe that a production version of the Ciel is all but certain. The more important question is how is it going to be packaged relative to what the concept car looks like. Hopefully, we’ll have some answers sooner than later.
Find out more about the Cadillac Ciel Concept after the jump.
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The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance showcased an enormous collection of some of the most desirable machines on the planet. But even in an event that features plenty of exotics, you still can’t escape some bumbling escapades here and there. The owner of this Lamborghini Gallardo certainly made sure of that.
Upon leaving the Concorso Italiano event at Pebble Beach this weekend, the driver of the Gallardo managed to get lost in the golf course, leading to one of the most hilarious moments of the event. In his attempt to find his way, he somehow - we don’t know how it happened, but its hilarious nevertheless - managed to get his Gallardo stuck at a bunker at the 17th hole of the Pebble Beach golf course.
How he ended up there begs some questions, not so much on his navigation skills, but more so on his driving expertise, or lack thereof in this case. Fortunately for Mr. I-Don’t-Know-Where-I-Am, help soon arrived to give his Gallardo that much-needed assistance to get back into a more tractable surface.
Let’s just hope that he found his way home without getting lost again.
Infiniti is preparing to enter a new market segment with the launch of the JX crossover, a 7-seater luxury model. The vehicle officially made its official debut at the 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance with the production version scheduled to be revealed in November at the Los Angeles Auto Show. That being said, the vehicle won’t be going on sale until Spring 2012 as a 2013 model.
Like we said before, Infiniti hasn’t dished out any extravagant details for their new SUV model, but they have confirmed that the JX will have three rows of seats with room for seven passengers. The crossover’s exterior design will follow along the lines of the Infiniti Essence Concept revealed at the 2009 Geneva Motor Show and the interior will feature the next generation of Infiniti’s telematics and infotainment technology.
"There aren’t a lot of choices for luxury families today. The all-new Infiniti JX is the 7-passenger antidote to the ho-hum luxury crossovers that are out there right now," said Ben Poore, vice president of Infiniti Americas.
Find out more about the Infiniti JX Concept after the jump
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Adam Carolla may be in the hot seat for some "decorated" commentary during the Adam Carolla Show podcast, but The Car Show can still forge ahead, hopefully without a loss of viewers. This week’s episode finds the hosts testing the Mercedes SLS AMG against the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, Dan Neil strolling through the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, and an interview with the outstanding Jason Castriota.
Usually a nice segway into the other, more important segments of the show, this week’s mini segments were a bit on the disappointing side. There was a "prank" type video showing us the World’s Worse Valet which had its funny moments, but fell short of what we expected. Then there was the biggest waste of time to date, the Great Car Knack. This mini segment has Adam dressed to the hilt in a cheap fortune teller costume while telling the people in the audience their future. It sounds ridiculous and, well, it was.
Full details on the The Car Show: Season 1 Episode 6 after the jump.
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Understandably so, the upcoming Frankfurt Motor Show has caught the attention of the entire industry. But for those that really pay attention to the calendar, another major auto event will take place this coming weekend that nobody should be sleeping on.
The 2011 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
One model that’s expected to be in attendance is the new Lotus Evora GTE Road Car Concept. The car was born out of the Evora GTE race program, the very same people behind the racing pedigree of the mid-engined, 2+2 sports car with races all over the world, including the legendary 24 Hours at Le Mans.
Complete details of the Evora GTE Concept won’t be unveiled until this weekend, but from what this photo is showing us, it looks us it’s been heavily modded with an aggressive front splitter to go with a U-shaped rear spoiler and a set of forged alloy wheels wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero Corsa tires. Meanwhile, the interior is said to carry plenty of leather and carbon fiber trims, as well as composite Recaro racing seats.
As for the engine, the concept car is said to carry a race-tuned 3.5-liter V6 engine that produces 420 horsepower and is mated to a sequential transmission.
That’s as much as we have for the Lotus Evora GTE Road Car Concept. Rest assured, we’ll have more details as soon as the car breaks cover at Pebble Beach later this week.
UPDATE 08/18/2011: Lotus has released more images of the Evora GTE Road Car ahead of its Pebble Beach debut. Check them out in the gallery provided!
