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While some concept cars look as if they come from a future that never will be, others represent cars that will actually go into production. We've gathered the most realistic concept cars from the last auto show season to see how the near future will look.

Click here for photos of concept cars that could or will enter production.

BMW's announcement of the 135i hit us like Pavlov's bell, the one he used to make his dog salivate. Once we got into the 2008 BMW 135i Coupe, all of our expectations were met, and more. BMW threw its best engine into its smallest car, leading to impressive acceleration for a car in this price range. But don't expect BMW engineers to content themselves with this simple concept; no, they tuned the car appropriately, such as making sure its tires would hold the road while being turned by 3-liter, twin-turbocharged power.

You usually have to pay for … Read more

Audi is joining other German automakers in the effort to eliminate exhaust emissions, promising to bring an electric model to market in the next 10 years.

Rupert Stadler, Audi's chairman and chief executive, said in an interview with German weekly Welt am Sonntag published Sunday that he expects battery technology to dominate in the coming five to 10 years.

"By then we will offer cars without exhaust emissions," Reuters quoted Stadler as saying. "Electric cars offer great opportunities, which we have already seized on."

Reducing vehicle emissions is a chief concern for automakers in Germany. … Read more

A new BMW launch always gets our rev-counter ticking higher, so when we got the chance to test drive three new Bimmer models last week at an event hosted by the Western Automotive Journalists association, we lost no time in buckling up. From the two nimble 1-Series models to the the phenomenal M3 trio, to the curiously styled X6, we put the next generation of Bavarian Motor Work through its paces.

Check out our photos here.

When we tested the 2008 BMW M3 Coupe recently, we were so impressed with it that we gave it an Editors' Choice award. But now we've driven the M3 equipped with BMW's new double-clutch gearbox, and found that perfection could be improved upon. We got our first sense of the brilliance of this gearbox on a public road, where we shifted up through the gears until the indicator in the instrument cluster showed a seven. Yes, seven speeds. One critique we had of the six-speed manual M3 Coupe we reviewed was that its fuel economy was low, sticking … Read more

On the second day of the 2008 Western Automotive Journalists Media Days, we drove a variety of different cars at Laguna Seca. This famous track employs a number of technical turns, not to mention a quarter-mile straightaway, for testing handling and acceleration.

Click here for photos of production cars tested on the track at Laguna Seca.

It's one thing for automakers to focus so much on technology inside the car, but sometimes it seems that they're spending an inordinate amount of time putting their nameplates on products that have nothing to do with the road. The latest example is BMW's co-branding of the Klipsch "Palladium P-39F," marking its entry into the high-end home speaker market.

These monsters stand 5 feet tall and sport a zebra-grain veneer, finished with a brushed-aluminum base. They have an exceptionally sleek appearance thanks to their flush-mounted horns and cones, according to Luxurylaunches. True to its namesake, … Read more

BMW showed off a hydrogen-powered 7-series sedan at the 2008 SAE World Congress in Detroit that actually emits less carbon monoxide than are found in the air around it. This means the engine breaks down or converts the carbon monoxide it takes in. The emissions tests, run by Argonne Laboratories, also show a similar reduction in nonmethane organic gases. The vehicle's other emissions are all so low that standard automobile emissions testing wouldn't have detected them.

This particular demonstration vehicle uses a 6-liter combustion engine that uses hydrogen as fuel, burning it in the cylinders and, according to … Read more

The new and highly anticipated 2008 BMW M3 embodies many qualities that made BMW's reputation. This rear-wheel-drive slugger leaves a little room to play with the handling, so expert drivers can learn to work with the car on track days, yet it works perfectly well in the daily commute, with many creature comforts, such as cutting-edge cabin tech and fine low-speed drivability. With its sizable trunk and usable rear seats, you could even make the argument that it is practical, as long as you ignore the fuel economy.

Read the review of the 2008 BMW M3.