Jaguar XP Shooting Brake

Jaguar XP Shooting Brake—Jaguar recently introduced a new concept car, the C-X16 sports car. It's a very pretty car, and supposedly headed for production as a "little brother" to the XK series of sports coupes. Personally, I think it looks too much like the XK. I think Jaguar should differentiate the two sports cars lines a bit more. I've given the C-X16 a long-roof design, or Shooting Brake bodystyle, although it would remain a 2-seater, albeit with more luggage room. Bespoke British fitted luggage, anyone? Click the image to enlarge.

 I've also given it a new name, the XP series. I can't be sure, but I think that Jaguar's recent concept names are a clue: C-X16: The "C" probably stands for "concept;" the "X" is the first part of the typical Jaguar name, XF, XJ, and XK; and I think that "16 " stands for the 16th letter of the alphabet, "P." I might be entirely wrong, but I'm betting the new small sports car by Jaguar will be known as the XP series. Not exactly catchy or evocative but entirely "contemporary" nomenclature.

Cadillac's Flagship Coupe—XTC V12

The XTS V12 luxury coupe, with a high-torque, ultra-quiet V12 featuring 450 hp. Click images to enlarge.

C H O P S — Cadillac could really use a flagship model to compete with the Mercedes-Benz S Class, BMW's 7-Series, Audi's A8 and similar über luxury machines. Cadillac has recently shown a large sedan called the XTS Platinum, but it's front-wheel drive and will replace their medium-sized cars, the STS and DTS. There have been rumors of a larger rear wheel drive car being developed, but it's quite far down the pipeline if it really exists at all. 

I've used a photo of the XTS Platinum concept sedan to create this larger pillarless coupe model, the XTC. That longer hood would now house a bespoke V12 in two states of tune: a "normal" rating of 450 hp, and a V-Series sport model with twin superchargers and 600 hp. The V-Series would take on Mercedes AMG division, and take the CTS-V's stellar performance image even further. The interiors would feature beautiful matte- or gloss-finished woods with V-Series featuring either polished carbon-fiber or piano-black lacquer trim.

My naming choice might be a bit confusing, as this large coupe would be placed above the front-wheel drive XTS sedan, but I just couldn't resist the XTC moniker—I'm sure the owners will be in ecstasy behind the wheel, lol.

The ultra-high performance model, the XTC V-Series, featuring a twin-supercharged V12 with 600 hp.

B T W : 

For those of you that aren't quite sure what I do to create my cars, this is the photo I began with. I use copyright-free publicity shots of cars, and then manipulate them in Photoshop to create the cars I wish were available today. You'll notice that besides having 4-doors versus 2-doors, the hood of the real car is much shorter than mine. That's because the XTS sedan has a V6 front wheel drive drivetrain, versus my V12 rear- or all-wheel drive platform. I've also changed the roofline/C pillar and many other details to make my coupe all casey/artandcolour.

2014 Mustang Clay Prototype a la Artandcolour

Based on the Evos concept, this 2014 Mustang GT 5.0 clay prototype was recently snapped in Dearborn by one of casey/artandcolour's spy photographers as it was about to be reviewed by FoMoCo execs.

Or I just photoshopped it from a photograph, lol. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out, but I'm going to give it another shot when I have time, and bring the rear wheels forward about 6-inches. I left the wheelbase from the Evos, but I think it needs to be shortened for a Mustang. I lengthened the hood by about 8-inches from the Evos, but in hindsight, the wheelbase still looks too long to me.

It's pretty hard redesigning an Icon, even if only in Photoshop!

Volkswagen Up! Churada Sport Coupe

VW recently introduced its newest tiny car, the Up! hatchback (yes, the name includes the exclamation point). The production car seats 4, but I've lowered it and raked the rear C pillar forward, limiting seating to two. The rear space could be used for luggage or for the battery pack in a future electric or hybrid version. I chose the name "Churada," a fierce monsoon wind-and-rain squall in the Mariana Islands. VW has a tradition of using names of winds for its cars, such as the Golf (the German name for the Gulf Stream) and Scirocco (an african wind). In addition to lowering the car, I've moved the door handles up into the B pillar, added black/chrome rocker panel trim, made the LED taillights a bit more dramatic, and enlarged the wheels, blacking out portions of the rim for a more custom look. I also gave the VW logo on the wheels a body color background, a touch reminiscent of the paint-detailed wheel covers of luxury cars of the past.