The Dodge Challenger is expected to see some changes over the next model year. There may be a few changes to the features, but the styling is likely to remain the same. The biggest change to expect in the 2011 Dodge Challenger is in the top-of-the-line SRT8 engine. The exterior is likely to remain the same. New Challengers are scheduled to hit the dealerships in the fall of 2010.

Specifications

This is what we know so far about the specs of the 2011 Dodge Challenger:

• Pricing: car pricing for the 2011 Dodge Challenger has not been announced yet, and is not likely to be available until shortly before the release this fall. The base model should cost around $24,000. The upgraded R/T trim is likely to cost about $32,000, while the SRT8 trim may cost $44,000 or more.
• Fuel economy: the gas mileage on the new Dodge Challenger has not been released yet; new engines could change the gas mileage. Dodge is likely to use new Pentastar engines that it claims are more fuel efficient than the 2010 engines. If that is the case, the SE model should get better than 17 city/25 mpg highway.
• Engine: three engines are expected: the base SE model should get a 3.6-liter, 280 horsepower V6; the R/T trim should receive a 5.7-liter, 376 horsepower V-8; the SRT8 trim should come with a 6.1-liter, 425 horsepower Hemi V-8 engine.
• Acceleration: some auto reviews have suggested that the current Challenger’s base model has an engine that lacks oomph; the 2011 Dodge Challenger has a more powerful base engine, which should improve on its acceleration. The vehicle has not yet been tested for its 0 to 60 mph times.
• Car safety features: safety features should be similar to the 2010 model. The 2011 Dodge Challenger may include car safety features such as antilock brakes, traction control, antiskid control, and side curtain air bags.
• Suspension: suspension offers a smooth ride.
• Warranty: three-year/36,000 mile basic warranty; five-year, 100,000 mile powertrain and corrosion warranty; three-year/36,000 mile roadside assistance.

"This car's so quiet I'm falling asleep." That sentence has probably been uttered in a Buick before. But not in a Buick cruising along a German autobahn. At 130 mph.

"Hey, this feels pretty nice." Someone's probably said that before in a Buick, too. But not in a Buick hammering around the legendary Nurburgring Nordschliefe. That's because no Buick in history has had its chassis tuned on the same bit of road utilized by the likes of BMW, Porsche, Mercedes, and Audi to get their cars handling right.

The 2010 Focus is a 2- or 4-door, 5-passenger family coupe, or family sedan, available in 6 trims, ranging from the SE Coupe to the SEL Sedan.

Upon introduction, both trims are equipped with a standard 2.0-liter, I4, 140-horsepower engine. A 5-speed manual transmission with overdrive is standard, and a 4-speed automatic transmission with overdrive is optional.

The 2010 Focus is a carryover from 2009.

There are classics in car design, such as ford's Mustang and porches 911, whose shapes have persisted with subtle variations for forty years. jaguar's XJ sedan is almost equally long-lived, but sales have dropped as it passed through many iterations that were all much too closely based--even the last all-aluminum model--on Sir William Lyon's original design. Now, finally, the XJ has a completely new shape, impressively handsome and vastly better, in terms of space and comfort, than any of its forebears.

The initial presentation to the American press at Hedsor House, an archetypical English stately home, was the best I've experienced in half a century of seeing new cars before their public showing: we were marshaled onto a second floor balcony overlooking the home's beautiful park and its long driveway. Two of the new cars--one of each wheelbase--approached and moved smoothly around the area so we could see them from every direction while Jaguar design leader Ian Callum talked about their design. Given that it is impossible to properly judge a new design until you have seen it in motion, this was a brilliant way to present a vitally important product.

With GM cutting its number of brands in half, those who remain in the General's employ now have both the opportunity and the obligation to define their roles, build unique products, and sell lots of cars. As one of GM's four surviving brands, buick owes a debt of gratitude to the Chinese market, where it is considered a premium marque. In the United States, the brand urgently needs to develop a similar cachet, and the 2010 Buick la Crosse is an effort to do just that.

Give KIA credit; it's not afraid to take on a monumental task. The ambitious Korean automaker didn't start selling cars in the United States until 1994, and a mere fifteen years later it offers a full range of vehicles, from the entry-level Rio sedan to the seven-passenger Borrego SUV to the spunky, funky Soul "urban passenger vehicle." As with almost every other carmaker, its sales are down this year (although Kia's 6.8 percent drop looks positively paltry compared with the double-digit dips suffered by most of its competitors). The faltering economy hasn't stopped Kia from forging ahead with its product plans, however. In fact, the automaker boasts that not only have there been no cutbacks, but in May, it spent more money marketing its products than during any other month in company history.

For 2010, the Range Rover gets a variety of upgrades aimed at improving the driving experience: both available engines have an extra dose of horsepower, the interior is even more luxurious, and the level of technology, both inside the cabin and under the skin, is more impressive than ever.

The Look

We'll forgive you if your eyes can't detect the slight changes in appearance from a distance. In addition to a revised grille, LEDs around the headlamps and taillamps, and slightly different side gills with LEDs that function as turn indicators, the fog lights move from the front bumper down to the sides of the air intake. The current Range Rover has aged quite well, so only minor changes seem appropriate.