Custom 1951 Cadillac Limo "owned By Fashion Design Icon Edith Head" Of Hollywood on 2040-cars

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Weekly Recap: Automakers rethink the definition of luxury

Variety is the spice of life, but it's becoming a prerequisite for luxury carmakers in the ultra-competitive US market. The Detroit Auto Show was strong evidence of this reality. It's not enough to offer attractive and well-appointed cars and SUVs anymore. Luxury brands that want to be competitive need to invest in everything from high-powered supercars to clever hybrids. To be relevant, you need to be green and mean – and everything in between. As General Motors product chief Mark Reuss said after the reveal of the 640-horsepower Cadillac CTS-V: "We are not leaving anything on the table." He was speaking for Cadillac, but he might as well have been speaking for the luxury car market. The CTS-V debuted in Detroit about an hour after Lexus surprised showgoers with the reveal of the RC F GT3 race car and then announced ambitious plans to return to competitive racing. That almost overshadowed the fact Lexus had just revealed another potent addition to its growing F line, the 467-hp GS F. View 20 Photos But for luxury brands, it's not just about maximum horsepower for well-heeled enthusiasts or decadent amenities for the Grey Poupon set. Strong competition from all corners has forced automakers to refine and expand their lineups in ways unforeseen even a few years ago. Case in point: Mercedes-Benz finally has an answer to the BMW X6, rolling out the GLE coupe in Detroit. The X6, which blends coupe-like styling cues with some of the functionality of an SUV, debuted in 2008. Back then it was a punchline, but seven years and more than 260,000 sales later, the X6's success has compelled Benz to respond. Mercedes – one of the strongest proponents of diesel technology – also debuted the C350 plug-in hybrid sedan, which promises a range of 20 miles on electricity, though fuel economy figures were not announced. The car pairs Mercedes' well-received 208-hp turbocharged four-cylinder with an electric motor for total output of 275 hp and 443 pound-feet of torque. Meanwhile, Infiniti will add the Q30 hatchback to its lineup by the end of the year, new president Roland Kruger reiterated in Detroit. It's expected to be joined by a crossover variant, and the additions will help strengthen Infiniti in the United States and abroad. "While we're expanding our product line, we're also expanding our market reach," he said. That's something echoed by Jaguar executives, who are preparing to launch the brand's first crossover, the F-Pace, in 2016.

Recharge Wrap-up: Lyft partners with Didi Kuaidi, Cadillac uses ultracapacitors

Lyft and Chinese on-demand transportation venture Didi Kuaidi have announced a partnership. Additionally, Didi Kuaidi is investing $100 million in Lyft. The two ridesharing companies will share technology and provide interoperability between platforms. For users, this means it will be easier to get around when traveling between the US and China. "In today's rideshare environment, where every region presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities, partnering with the homegrown leader is the winning approach to Chinese expansion," says Lyft President and co-founder John Zimmer. Learn more in the video above, and in the press release below. Car2go has announced service in Miami Beach, FL. Beginning October 1, the one-way carsharing service will expand its boundaries beyond its current Miami service area to include neighboring Miami Beach. "We're thrilled to see car2go expand to Miami Beach," says Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine. "Miami Beach residents and visitors are increasingly seeking new, environmentally conscious options to move around North, Middle, and South Beach, and carsharing is an important part of realizing that vision." Read more from Car2go. ClipperCreek has added the HCS-30 EVSE to its product line. The 24-amp, 240-volt Level 2 charging station is designed for residential and workplace duty. It allows for faster charging without the customer having to upgrade their electrical service panel. Delivering about 20 miles of range per hour of charging, the HCS-30 EVSE can charge most EVs in about four hours. Pricing begins at $565. Read more from ClipperCreek. Cadillac will use ultracapacitors in its stop-start systems for 2016. Rather than relying on battery power to run electrical systems while the engine is not running, the utracapacitors can provide a stable flow of energy without losing lifespan to repeated cycling. Supplied by Maxwell Technologies, the ultracapacitors are also lighter than batteries and, according to Cadillac, provide smoother restarts. The 2016 models to use the updated stop-start technology as standard will be the ATS and CTS, with the exception of the V performance variants. Read more at Green Car Reports. Lyft and Didi Kuaidi Announce Strategic Partnership, Building Toward a Collaborative Global Ridesharing Alliance - Didi Kuaidi Invests $100 million in Lyft - Companies Introduce Ridesharing Coverage Between the U.S.

The syrupy sweet tale of the Pink Cadillac Margarita

In our last installment of the irregular and irreverent series on drinks loosely connected to – or named after – automobiles, we sipped a Taxi cocktail, which in its original form tasted a bit like a margarita infused with Blackjack chewing gum , except worse. This time, we explore mythos behind a drink so pink it usually doesn't make you stop and think. But that's what we're going to do. And, as always, enjoy cocktails (and reading about them) while you're not behind the wheel. Our brother lives in Detroit, where old American cars go to not die. On the streets of the Motor City, you will see all manner of holey-mufflered, salt-rotted, spring-sagging Big Three iron plowing along shoddily. Our brother's next-door neighbor is a connoisseur of such vehicles, and thus populates his driveway with a cache of Malaise Era Cadillacs. (His dog lives in one.) His latest addition, which our brother texted us a photo of recently while we were eating fish tacos in Los Angeles, is a Desert Rose 1977 Coupe DeVille (seen below). Since we're always thinking about cars or drinking (or both), and we were eating Mexican, this put us in mind of a cocktail our cousin's trashy bridesmaid made us try at her wedding in Charleston: the Pink Cadillac Margarita. Suddenly, we were thirsty. The Pink Cadillac Margarita is, quite obviously, a pink drink – a somewhat cloying, if deliciously chuggable concoction colored with a spritz of Ocean Spray, or Chambord liqueur if you're classy. Pink drinks get a bum rap. Blame it on the Cosmopolitan, and everyday misogyny, but many people find pink drinks frivolous. As expert drinkers, and drink experts, we would counter that the consumption of alcohol is, at its essence, about being frivolous. Never mind that the chemical is a depressive; Consuming it is about putting on your rose (or rose) colored glasses, and getting ready to make some mistakes. The Pink Cadillac is apparently so named not just because of its signature color and the irresistible musical connection between Cadillacs and pinkness (see: Aretha, Springstein, Natalie Cole). The moniker also derives from the quality of the ingredients – drawing on the historical expression "The Cadillac of..." to signify something top-shelf. "It's difficult to know quite how that name was derived," says Melody Lee, Cadillac's director of brand strategy.