Since 1986, Acura has consistently raised the performance standards for luxury cars, from performance coupes and sedans to the MDX sport-utility vehicle and NSX exotic sports car. The performance luxury division of the American Honda Motor Company, Acura is renowned for its groundbreaking technologies, superior engineering and aggressive styling. And above all, the Acura brand is celebrated for its unsurpassed quality. Every vehicle is built upon the premise that integrity breeds excellence. And this ethos extends beyond its workings in the automobile industry. From its sponsorship of sporting events to its participation in community affairs, Acura is committed to fostering many modes of performance.

Audi's history is one of the most many-faceted stories ever told in the history of the automobile in general. The Audi emblem with its four rings identifies one of Germany's oldest-established automobile manufacturers. It symbolises the amalgamation in 1932 of four previously independent motor-vehicle manufacturers: Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer. These companies form the roots of what is today AUDI AG.

The Toyota Motor Co. Ltd was first established in 1937 as a spin-off from Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, one of the world's leading manufacturers of weaving machinery.

On November 8, 1989, after years of study and planning, Infiniti opened the doors of its first 51 dealers. On the showroom floors were two brand new models, the breakthrough Q45 performance luxury sedan and the driver-oriented M30 performance luxury coupe. Fast forward to 2004, there are now more than 160 Infiniti dealerships that are stocked with exciting coupes, sedans, crossovers and SUV's, including two recently introduced models: the G35 Sedan AWD and the QX56 full-size luxury SUV.

In 1902, Cadillac Automobile Company is organized in Detroit by Henry M. Leland, a precision manufacturer of automotive components.
In 1905, Cadillac produces the Osceola, a single-cylinder favorite of Henry Leland and the first step-in closed-car design. The body was built under the supervision of Fred J. Fisher (who later founded Fisher Body with his brothers) in the Wilson Body Company plant in Detroit.

The ongoing belt-tightening in America has seen small cars move upmarket, with many boasting attractive designs and premium features unheard of in the segment as recent as five years ago. But just as other manufacturers are moving onward and upward, Nissan has taken a few steps back with its 2012 Versa sedan, a car that shoots for (and hits) the bottom of the barrel.

Never mind that it's been America's bestselling passenger car in 13 of the past 14 years-the past nine consecutively-and appears to be headed for another sales title this year. Never mind that a financial or marketing exec might observe that those numbers are the only kind of respect that really matters. The Camry don't get no respect at Car and Driver, and it has only rarely elsewhere over that entire run. But the 2012 Camry, due in showrooms in October, could end-or at least moderate-our disdain.

Compact crossovers are a little like toothbrushes. They perform a necessary function, but they're rarely exciting. Everybody needs a toothbrush, though, and toothbrush manufacturers want to outsell their competitors, so we have wear-indicating bristles, flexible split heads, integrated tongue-and-cheek scrapers, and the like.

Yes, it's a minivan. But it's a minivan with an interesting distinction: It wears an R/T badge, signifying membership in Chrysler's Road and Track performance fraternity. One of four new R/T treatments at last February's Chicago auto show, this Grand Caravan was initially greeted with polite skepticism. But when Ralph Gilles, erstwhile Dodge design chief and now head of all things SRT, revealed that his product planners were calling it the "man van," polite skepticism gave way to outright mirth. You won't see the phrase "man van" in any formal marketing messages.

Now for what could be construed as damning with faint praise: The GLI is the best Jetta sedan that Volkswagen makes. (Note the "sedan" in the previous sentence and recall that VW still sells the SportWagen, which is based on the last-gen Jetta.) U.S.-specific Jetta cost cutting called for the removal of its soft-touch dash and multilink rear suspension, replacing both with cheaper, harder pieces-in the suspension's case, the hard bit is a torsion-beam axle. To create the GLI, those Euro-grade parts are put back in.