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Artist imagines eerie world where cars have no wheels

The wheel ranks right up there with the telescope and four-slice toaster in the pantheon of inventions that have moved humankind forward. But what if a circle in three dimensions had never occurred to anyone, and we all had just moved on without it? Perhaps we'd be driving around in Lucas Motors Landspeeders with anti-gravity engines. Or maybe we'd have the same cars we do today, just without wheels.
That's the thought experiment that seems to have led French photographer Renaud Marion to create his six-image series called Air Drive. The shots depict cars throughout many eras of motoring that look normal except for one thing: they have no wheels. The models used include a Jaguar XK120, Cadillac DeVille (shown above), Chevrolet El Camino and Camaro, and Mercedes-Benz SL and 300 roadsters.
Perhaps one day when our future becomes our past, you'll be able to walk the street and see with your own eyes the rust and patina of age on our nation's fleet of floating cars. Until then, Monsieur Marion's photographs will have to do.

Why we can't have better headlights here in the U.S.

It wouldn't be a European auto show if we weren't teased with at least one mainstream vehicle we can't have here. At the Geneva Motor Show last week, the small but vocal contingent of shooting-brake buffs lamented that the Mazda6 wagon won't be coming to our shores, although they can take comfort in the fact that the vehicle won't get the torquey 250-horsepower 2.5-liter turbocharged gasoline engine we'll get here. Mercedes-Benz also announced a new headlight technology in Geneva that likely won't be available here anytime soon. It's just the latest in a long line of innovative and potentially lifesaving front-lighting solutions that the federal government doesn't allow in this country due to outdated standards — and a current lack of leadership at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Mercedes-Benz's new Digital Light system that debuted in Geneva uses a computer chip to activate more than a million micro-reflectors to better illuminate the road ahead. The Digital Light headlamps works with the vehicle's cameras, sensors and navigation mapping to adjust lighting for the given location and situation and to detect other road users. The Digital Light technology also serves as an extended head-up display of sorts by projecting symbols on the pavement ahead to alert drivers to, say, slippery conditions or pedestrians in the road. And it can even project lines on the road in a construction zone or through tight curves to show the driver the correct path. Digital Light will be available on Mercedes-Maybach vehicles later this year, although like any technology it's bound to trickle down to less expensive vehicles. That is, if we ever get it here in the U.S. Audi, a leader in automotive lighting, has repeatedly run into snags trying to bring state-of-the-art car headlights to the U.S. The German luxury automaker's recently introduced matrix laser headlight system, which performs many of the same trick as Mercedes-Benz's Digital Light, also isn't legal on U.S. roads. And five years after the introduction of its matrix-beam LED lighting, which illuminates more of the road without blinding oncoming motorists with brights by simultaneously operating high and low beams, Audi still can't bring that technology to the U.S. either.

2016 Mercedes CLA and GLA get more power, quicker

Unlike in Europe, Mercedes-Benz doesn't have hyper hatches like the Audi RS3 to compete against in North America, at least not yet. However, the company isn't letting its high-performance compacts get behind the times anywhere in the world with the announcement that the CLA45 AMG and GLA45 AMG in the US are getting practically the same raft of upgrades as the ones across the pond. Both models go on sale in October in US dealers. Like its European counterpart, the 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder in the diminutive AMGs receives upgrades to produce 375 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque (the 381 hp rating over there is in metric ponies). That's an impressive 20-horsepower and 18 lb-ft bump over the current version of the mill. Beyond just the boost in output, quicker acceleration comes from revised, more aggressive ratios in third through seventh gears. The latest AMGs make great use of their upgrades, too. The 2016 GLA45 now clocks the run to 60 miles per hour in 4.3 seconds, a staggering half-second quicker than the 2015 model. The CLA45 slices 0.3 seconds off its time to make the sprint in 4.1 seconds, which gives the sedan the same acceleration as a SL63 AMG. In addition to the powertrain tweaks, the 2016 models get a few other added luxuries. As in Europe, they receive the Dynamic Select System that uses a rotary knob select from multiple driving modes. Inside, there's standard keyless start, dual-zone climate controls, and Mercedes' latest infotainment unit. A "Turbo 4Matic" badge on the fender now hints at the vehicles' performance potential. The new Dynamic Plus Package is the major addition to the options list. It combines a limited slip differential at the front, AMG Adaptive Suspension, Race Mode, Performance Steering Wheel, and pushes the top speed to 167 mph. At the same time, the AMG Driver's Package is discontinued, and the AMG Performance Studio Package is dropped on the CLA45. Related Video: