The Best and Worst of Wheels | SPIKE

It would be a glaring understatement to say that 2009 was a tumultuous year for the automotive world. After the economic sector was brought back from the brink of collapse, the dust settled, and the casualties were counted. In its wake, the auto industry was forced to refocus their efforts, cut the dead weight, and move forward with a new sense of purpose. For many, this meant putting their best foot forward. For others, it just meant FAIL.

The Best

Ford Motor Company

Source: Ford Motor Company

The only American automaker to survive the carpocalypse without taking a handout from the American taxpayer, Ford took a bad situation and made it work for them, making their brand even stronger in the process.

Not only did they release a major refresh to the Mustang line this year to wide critical acclaim, they also managed to grab Motor Trend’s coveted Car of the Year award for the Ford Fusion, stealing quite a bit of thunder from the likes of Toyota and Honda in the most sought-after segment in the industry. Now, with a host of well-received vehicles from Ford’s European segment coming stateside in the near future, and some new cutting edge engines come down the pipeline, FoMoCo is coming out of the mire of 2009 looking spit-shined and proper.

Tesla Motors

Tesla Model S Revealed!

Tesla took the wraps off their new sport sedan, the Model S, at SpaceX Rocket Labs in Hawthorne, CA.

It wasn’t too long ago that Elon Musk’s company was really on the ropes, reportedly using customer’s deposits as operating capital.

But the PayPal co-founder was able to right the ship at the zero hour, and eventually secured $465 million in loans from the United States government, which is being used to develop and produce Tesla’s second vehicle, the Model S, and to help develop their all-electric powertrain technology, which Tesla plans to sell to other automakers.

The company announced back in August of this year that they had achieved overall corporate profitability in July of 2009, selling a record 109 Roadster models that month, which is quite a feat considering the formidable obstacles in the startup’s way.

Chevrolet

Source: Jalopnik

GM definitely suffered some major setbacks this year, but it wasn't without a few victories as well.

Not only did the new Camaro outsell the Mustang (the best-selling car in the segment for decades) for several months consecutively, but the new ZR1 Corvette was crowned the fastest production car world, besting both the Porsche 911 GT2 and Nissan's GT-R lap times around the Germany's legendary Nürburgring, the unofficial performance benchmark for all-around vehicle performance.

Nissan

Source: Nissan

Not only did Nissan correct the launch control transmission failure issues that plagued last year's GT-R, they essentially made it faster in the process.

And amidst all the bloodletting in the market, they also managed to release the successor to the iconic Z car, the 370Z, which has been widely hailed as a better car than its predecessor, the 350Z, in every measurable category, raising the bar in that class in the process.

Lexus LFA

The New Lexus LFA: A V10, $400k Supercar

At today's Tokyo Motor Show, Lexus announced a limited-production supercar that completely ditches the idea of what a Lexus is supposed to be. GT-R, you're on notice.

While most of the offerings this year from Toyota's luxury brand were fairly pedestrian in nature, Lexus stunned the world at the Tokyo Motor Show in October when they announced their entrance into the sports car game in a very serious way with this $375,000 supercar. Sporting a 552HP V10 which revs all the way up to an ear-splitting 9000 RPM.

Lexus says they plan to keep the hand-built beast very exclusive, with only 500 cars are planned to be built. And with a body that's 65% carbon fiber, a transmission that upshifts in 1/5th a second, and top speed of over 200 mph, there is no doubt that we now have another major player amongst the supercar rivalries.