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Cadillac has chosen the backdrop of this week’s classic car festivities in Monterey, California to debut a new concept convertible called the Ciel, which means “sky” in French. The four-seat, four-door drop top was designed to be the ultimate carriage for a drive up the coast, as well as hints at Cadillac’s aspirations to offer flagship luxury products in the future.

The Ciel is powered by a 425-horsepower, twin-turbocharged version of GM’s 3.6-liter V6 engine with direct injection that’s augmented by a hybrid system using lithium-ion batteries. Those massive 22-inch wheels may not look that large because the Ciel itself is a big boat with a wheelbase 12 inches longer than a CTS sedan and overall length cresting 200 inches. Cadillac says the car’s shape is more natural and organic than its current design language, perhaps expressing more Art than Science with smoother lines and softer curves than we’re used to seeing. We particularly like the slightly rising chrome accent line along the rocker panels that stretches the length of the Ciel.

Exterior aside, inside the Ciel is where we want to be. Passengers are absolutely coddled in their individual bucket seats with unique niceties like pull-out blankets to ward off an evening’s chill, aromatherapy controls in the armrests and a drawer containing sun screen, sun glasses and a towel. Of course, technology is ever-present in the cabin with each seat having its own suite of connectivity options and the center dashboard being topped with an inductive charging surface.

Check out Cadillac’s official images as well as our own live shots in the galleries below. Two official videos and Cadillac’s official PR can be found after the jump.

Continue reading Cadillac Ciel Concept designed for decadent drives up the coast

Cadillac Ciel Concept designed for decadent drives up the coast originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The fifth installment of the Fast and the Furious series, Fast Five, is ready to debut this summer, unleashing another round of “nos”-fed hilarity. In anticipation of the promised vehicular mayhem, they guys at Inside Line caught up with Dennis McCarthy, the man behind the stable of hot rods featured in the movie.

The first is a one-off, tube-frame monstrosity of an offroad car hauler lovingly dubbed “Mongo.” Mongo was designed to assist Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in filching exotic cars from a moving train. To our eyes, Mongo looks ready to do just that, sporting a 600-plus-horsepower 502-cubic-inch Chevrolet V8, 7:10 gears and 18 inches of suspension travel. According to McCarthy, Mongo did his own stunts, completing a 75-foot jump and driving away unscathed. Wow.

The next sample on today’s palette is possibly the most famous car to come out of the Fast and the Furious franchise, Dom Toretto’s 1970 Dodge Charger. Though the car in the film sports a 900-horsepower supercharged Hemi, keeping costs low dictated a slightly tamer set up for the actual workhorses of the film. In stuntman-ready trim, the Charger sported a 400-hp Chevy small block (sorry, Mopar fans…) capped by a gutted BDS blower just for effect. According to IL, it’s loud, scary to drive and uncomfortable, just the way any self-respecting mock up should be.

The final car on the list is the star of the show, a replica of a 1965 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport, build by Mongoose Motorsports. It features the ubiquitous Chevrolet 502 big block, backed up by a Borg Warner Super T-10 four-speed stick. The combination rides on C3 Corvette suspension, which struggles to handle nearly 600 horses stuffed into a featherweight frame.

After weeks of abuse at the hands of Hollywood, none of the cars are feeling as healthy as they once were. That said, they all still run, which can’t be said for hundreds of other cars used in the movie. Added to that, they’ll all still burn up the rear tires with poise, showing they still have their dignity. Click past the jump to see all three cars in action.

[Source: YouTube via Inside Line]

Continue reading Video: Inside line drives a trio of Fast Five cars

Video: Inside line drives a trio of Fast Five cars originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 18 Apr 2011 19:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s a shame the Pininfarina Stratos probably won’t see widespread production. The car is hewn straight from the naughtiest of our automotive dreams, and with some of its aluminum bones borrowed from the Ferrari 430 Scuderia it promises to be as fun to fling as anything with four wheels. The crew at EVO was lucky enough to weasel their way behind the wheel of the lovely one-off, becoming the first journalists to do so in the process. That sound? It’s the noise our boundless jealousy makes when agitated.

EVO was able to take the car out for a couple of hot laps around Circuit Paul Ricard, and the verdict is that, as you might expect, the car is plenty nimble and just as quick. There is some indication that the vehicle’s short wheelbase would likely make for some hair-raising antics at higher speeds, though. EVO even goes so far as to say that the vehicle has a completely different personality compared to its Prancing Horse donor. Even better, there may be a very small production run in the vehicle’s future.

Sign us up.

[Source: EVO]

EVO drives the new Lancia Stratos originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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