2011 Cadillac Srx Performance Sport Utility 4-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

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Hyundai and GM say they're serious about air taxis

The Hyundai S-A1 electric concept is displayed at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. (Getty Images)   DETROIT — Hyundai and General Motors said on Monday they are pushing ahead with developing "flying cars," with the South Korean company expressing optimism it could have an air-taxi service in operation as soon as 2025. A GM executive said it could take until 2030 for air-taxi services to overcome technical and regulatory hurdles and reach commercialization. Electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) zero-emissions aircraft, which take off and land like helicopters and carry passengers and cargo, are being developed by a number of startups as well as aircraft makers and automakers, but they face a long road to profitability. Hyundai is ahead of its previously stated timetable for rolling out air-mobility vehicles, Jose Munoz, the company's global chief operating officer, said in an interview broadcast on Monday at the Reuters Events Car of the Future conference. Munoz, who is also CEO of Hyundai North America, previously said urban air taxis would be in operation at major U.S. airports by 2028 and perhaps earlier. He told Reuters on Monday it could possibly happen before 2025. Cadillac Vertile View 9 Photos "We see this market as a significant growth opportunity," Munoz said, adding he was "very confident" of the technology's development. Hyundai is developing air taxis powered by electric batteries that can transport five to six people from highly congested urban centers to airports. Other automakers developing flying cars either alone or with startups include Toyota, Daimler and China's Geely. "I think that there's a long pathway here," Pamela Fletcher, vice president of GM's Global Innovation team, said at the Reuters event. "2030 is probably a real commercial inflection point." She added: "It's a very nascent space. There's a lot of work to be done on the regulatory side, as well as the actual technology side." In January, GM unveiled a flying Cadillac concept. Morgan Stanley has estimated the total addressable market for urban air mobility could hit $1 trillion by 2040 and $9 trillion by 2050. In 2019, Hyundai, which has a dedicated Urban Air Mobility Division led by Jaiwon Shin, a former NASA engineer, pledged to invest about $1.5 billion in urban air mobility by 2025. Munoz said Hyundai sees its flying cars serving not only residential customers but also transporting commercial cargo.

First-edition Detroit muscle raises millions for charity at Barrett-Jackson

Amidst all the classic metal crossing the auction block each year in Scottsdale, AZ, Detroit automakers have a tradition of donating the first examples of their most enticing new muscle cars, with the proceeds of their sales going towards worthwhile charities. This year, Barrett-Jackson handled three noteworthy examples. The highest price among them was the first Ford Shelby GT350R Mustang with the VIN #001, which raised $1 million for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. General Motors donated the first new Chevy Corvette Z06 Convertible, the first retail example of the droptop supercar garnering $800,000 for the United Way. Along with the Z06, GM also donated the first new 2016 Cadillac CTS-V sedan, which brought in $170,000 for Detroit's College for Creative Studies. Although these were the headline Motown muscle machines furnished by the automakers themselves, they weren't the only vehicles auctioned off for worthy causes. A 1950 GM Futurliner bus donated by collector Ron Pratte led the charge when it brought in $4.65 million for the Armed Forces Foundation. Other lots included a custom Jeep Wrangler donated by SEMA ($85k), a new M5 donated by BMW ($800k), a '79 Oldsmobile Cutlass Hurst ($140k), '39 Cadillac LaSalle C-Hawk ($410k), Jeff Gordon's 1999 NASCAR-spec Chevy Monte Carlo ($500k) and a Victory Cross Country 8-Ball motorcycle ($180k). All told, the charity lots raised over $8.7 million for local and national charities. BARRETT-JACKSON REACHES HISTORIC HIGHS FOR SALES, CROWDS AND CELEBRITY APPEARANCES IN SCOTTSDALE • Barrett-Jackson sold 1,611 vehicles, which went for more than $130 million (unaudited), smashing records in the company's 44-year history during the 10-day auction at WestWorld of Scottsdale • Automobilia sales nearly tripled world records, with 2,000 pieces selling for more than $6.55 million • Celebrity attendance and crowds, along with ratings on Discovery and Velocity, spike SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Jan. 18, 2015 – Barrett-Jackson, The World's Greatest Collector Car AuctionsTM, reached historic highs during the Scottsdale auction at WestWorld from Jan. 10-18, 2015. During the 10-day auction, Barrett-Jackson recorded more than $130 million in vehicle sales (unaudited) and a world record $6.55 million in automobilia sales (unaudited), making it the highest auction in sales to date. The Ron Pratte Collection alone brought in over $40.44 million in vehicle and automobilia sales.

Junkyard Gem: 1979 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz

The Cadillac Eldorado lost a foot of wheelbase and 1,200 pounds when GM's luxury front-drive platform got downsized for 1979, which turned out to be prescient timing considering the massive spike in oil prices in the wake of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The General kept the pricey Biarritz option package from the previous generation, adding a stainless-steel roof in the process. Here's one of those cars, found in a chilly Denver boneyard last month. The stainless-steel roof panel, inspired by the one used on the 1957 Eldorado Brougham, identifies a 1979-1985 Eldorado as a genuine Biarritz. This generation of Eldorado Biarritz achieved its greatest renown as the car bomb that detonates when pink-suited Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro) cranks the starter in the 1995 film Casino. Naturally, a 24 Hours of Lemons team obtained one of these cars and raced it while the pit crew wore pastel suits and sipped from Tangiers Casino highball glasses. The MSRP on the base '79 Eldorado was $14,240 and the Biarritz package with leather seats tacked on an additional $2,600. That's $64,495 in 2021 dollars, at a time when plenty of car loans had interest rates approaching 20%. The '79 Seville's base price was higher ($15,646), despite being based on the lowly Chevy Nova, but that difference was erased by the cost of the Biarritz package. The Fleetwood limos were the only pricier Cadillacs that year. Yes, you had to be a true high-roller to purchase a '79 Biarritz. Of course, a new Mercedes-Benz 450SLC cost a terrifying $32,858 (about $125,850 today) that year, but the $13,067 Lincoln Mark V (the price went up substantially if you got one of the editions designed by Bill Blass, Givenchy, or Emilio Pucci) was close competition for the Biarritz. The 1979 Eldorado had something the Lincoln didn't, however: electronic fuel injection. Yes, a 350-cubic-inch (5.7-liter) Oldsmobile V8 engine with a pretty-modern-for-1979 throttle-body fuel-injection system sent 170 horses to the front wheels via GM's impressive Unitized Power Package longitudinal-engine front-wheel-drive system. Look at all those futuristic devices in that faux-wood dash! That stereo cassette deck added $225 ($860 today) to the price. Cruise control cost $137, the rear defogger added $101, and… well, you get the idea. This Cad is a bit tattered and has some rust spots here and there, but wouldn't have been an overwhelmingly difficult restoration.