#2012

Honda has never paid too much attention to how other car makers do things. In the past this led to many highly successful innovations. Today…well today we have the ninth-generation Civic, recently launched as an early 2012 model.

I’ve been waiting 28 years for Fiat to return to the United States, and that means TTAC is going back-to-back on the Fiat 500 coverage, following up Michael Karesh’s review with one of my own.

When Chevrolet announced a few months ago that its new Cruze compact sedan would start at $16,995, more than a few people (who likely had not had a chance to personally experience the new car) were shocked. The Cobalt, which the Cruze replaced, had been priced nearly $1,300 lower—and had required incentives to sell at that price. Now Ford has announced pricing for the totally redesigned 2012 Focus, and it starts at…$16,995.

It’s been over a quarter-century, so perhaps my memory grows hazy. But I recall enjoying the small, light subcompacts of the mid-1980s tremendously. They didn’t have much power. Power wasn’t a requirement, just a willingness to rev and to be tossed sideways through curves. I’ve spent the years since trying to recapture that experience. And failing. Too much mass. Too much tire. Even too much refinement. But FIAT’s not famed for refinement. And, at 2,363 pounds, the reborn 500 (pronounced “cinquecento”) is a quarter-ton lighter than today’s compacts. So perhaps my search is over?

When Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne unveiled the 2012 Dodge Viper to dealers at this week’s Florida dealer meeting, he introduced it with the following words [via Automotive News [sub]]

We had been debating this particular nameplate for a long time, and every time I just could not get there. And then one morning the product committee went into the dome and saw it, and we all knew we were in front of something magic, unique. It took less than five minutes for the committee to fund the initiative. Not a negative comment, not a remark, not a single question. And so I leave you with this. The 17th car in the lineup, in select dealers in 2012.

Based on Marchionne’s words as well as dealer reports that the concept “resembled the Alfa 8C Competizione, we’d like to believe that the 2012 Dodge Viper will look something like the recent Zagato Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa concept (above). In reality, however, it will probably more closely resemble the image after the jump.

Our Korea-based contributor Walter Foreman already suspected that the new Hyundai Avante might be one of the world’s first mass-market compact car with a self-parking feature (similar systems are offered on the Toyota Prius and Euro-market VW Golf), and this video proves that he was dead right. What’s still not clear is whether self-parking is standard on the new Avante (launching August 2 in Korea), or whether it will be offered when it comes stateside as either the 2011 or 2012 Elantra. This would be the ultimate challenge for such technology, as legal concerns allegedly kept Volkswagen’s pioneering system out of the US. Still, Hyundai had the cojones to equip its mass-market C-segment car with technology that just a few years ago was available only on the Lexus LS. That’s exactly the kind of decision that has Hyundai raising eyebrows across the industry.

Our Korean contributor Walter Foreman hipped us to this, one of the first videos of the 2012 Hyundai Elantra taking to the streets [via DaumTV]. Of course, in Korean spec it’s called the Avante, but when it finally gets sold stateside, it’s sure to be known as the “baby Sonata.” Or perhaps “that car that makes the Cruze look so deathly boring by comparison.” Or possibly, “a precisely scaled execution of Hyundai’s fluidic sculpture design language.” Or, if Hyundai’s really successful over the next year or so, people will refer to it as “just the new Hyundai.” It’s amazing how much change people can become accustomed to.

Nissan has released this teaser of the forthcoming 2012 Quest minivan at a company microsite aimed at drumming up interest until the model goes on sale in “early 2011.” And boy, does it ever have its work cut out.