As consumers grappled with a credit crunch, high unemployment, and mountains of debt, many were resistant to the idea of buying a new vehicle last year.  This reluctance resulted in one of the worst years for the auto industry.

In 2009, China edged out the United States as the strongest car sales market worldwide.  The year also saw two iconic U.S. car manufacturers, General Motors and Chrysler, file for bankruptcy.

Depending on the sales figures for the month of December, 2009 was either the worst year since 1982 or 1970.

TrueCar analyst Jesse Toprak told FoxNews.com that he expects 2009 will be the worst year since 1970, but he does predict an improvement in 2010.

“I think what we are going to see in 2010 in a nutshell is steady and slow recovery,” Toprak said. “The fundamentals that fuel new car sales are improving, but there is still a lot of skepticism from consumers.”

For many consumers, especially those considering exotic vehicles, this skepticism has led to outside-the-box thinking.  Instead of purchasing a six-figure exotic car, many exotic car enthusiasts choose instead to join exotic car clubs.

Touted as being environmentally responsible, as well as economical, car clubs are a great alternative to owning an exotic vehicle.  Instead of hassling with insurance, maintenance, storage, and other owner concerns, exotic car club members can just sit back and relax.

Members have access to an entire garage of exotic vehicles.  Rather than committing to one car, they can experience the thrill of driving a Lamborghini one week and a Bentley the next.

Other options include exotic car rental and automotive dream tours.  Exotic car rental is great for those who want to have a great time on vacation or impress friends and dates.  It’s also an excellent option for special occasions like class reunions, major birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries.

Automotive dream tours are the ultimate way to experience the adrenaline rush that comes with driving exotic vehicles.  Over the course of a few hours, participants can sit behind the wheel of some of the fastest cars in Texas.

These and other creative options may be the future of the exotic car world.  Toprak expects that it may take three more years for domestic car sales to return to normal, and it could be even longer for exotic car sales.

Kate Miller-Wilson is a professional freelance writer, specializing in web content and technical writing.

David has taken some sensational photos of the 1955 Chevy.

(Photo Credit: Dallas Classic Car Examiner David Graves)

If your garage has gotten too full to store your classic car collection, check out Dallas Car Storage, a Fort Worth TX company that specializes in securely storing antique and collectible cars.

Mark has some beauties in his private car collection. He even has one of the original 1967 Eleanor Mustangs. His is one of 11 that were used in the film. How cool is that?

Anyway, check out David’s article and the great pics of the 1955 Chevy.

Post written by Eric Anderson. Eric’s recent writing projects include content for a Wesley Chapel FL Mortage broker.

(Photo Credit World First Racing)

They’ve managed to build a Formula 3 race car that runs on chocolate. “The dark chocolate is way better than milk chocolate as a fuel. But you have to be really careful not to accidentally use Hershey with almonds,” said a source close to the project.

(Ferrari F430 photo by Josh Davis, Fort Worth exotic car photographer. All rights reserved.)

“We had mishap with Hershey with almonds that ruined the fuel injection system on the racer and set us back several months,” stated the eco-racer’s design chief. Damn the interns.

Exotic Car in Chocolate Makes UK Sun

According to the U.K. Sun, the car has a steering wheel made of carrot fibers, a body made of potatoes and seat foam made of soybeans. Supposedly, it’s very healthy to drive. The chocolate exhaust fumes are not only carbon neutral but they also leave a deliciously tasty scent behind. The car can do 145 miles per hour and the developers would like to see their eco-friendly car and some of its technologies adopted by leading racing teams such as Ferrari and McLaren. I think they might have better luck looking for sponsors at Droste or Mars or Hershey or even Haagen-Dasz.

If you’ve been good and eaten all your vegetables, why not reward yourself with something a bit more sensible? How about renting something capable of 145 miles per hour that isn’t made out of your favorite characters from the Veggie Tales…

Dallas Exotic Car Rental: A Reward for Eating All Your Veggies

Check out a bevy of mouthwatering performance rentals from Platinum Exotics, a terrific Dallas, TX supercar rental company…  Sure you can’t eat carbon fiber side blades, but renting an red Audi R8 in Dallas TX is a hellava lot more appetizing that a spin in the latest eco racer…

This post written by web content writer Eric Anderson. See more of this web writer’s work at PDQWebCopywriting.com. Eric’s recent web writing projects include content for a Montana custom vehicle wraps company and a Tampa mortgage broker and a web page about Dallas Ferrari rentals.

This year, despite all the gloom and doom, the Mecum Auction being held at Osceola’s Heritage Park, beat the number of cars in the previous Mecum auction.

Noted for auctioning classic American muscle cars, particularly Corvettes, Dana Mecum, owner of Mecum Auctions, was recently quoted in Forbes Autos giving some tips on spotting tomorrow’s collector cars.

His advice: look for cars purchased primarily for pleasure, rather than basic transportation; look for a car that is notable; and look for a car produced in limited quantities.

I’m thinking Tesla Roadster or maybe the 2009 Audi R8.

Of course with the state of American car makers, lots of great American sports cars could be getting the axe. I’d like to have a Ford GT or a 2008 Dodge Viper about now.

Both of my fantasy supercar drives were once in the paddock of the premier sports car sharing club in Dallas,

Anyway, the cool thing about the Mecum auction is that you can watch it live on the web at http://www.mecum.com or if you are lucky enough to have Discovery Channel HD, you can get the auction live in four hour blocks.

Check out the auction TV schedule here.

According to good article by Steve Cole Smith of the Orlando Sentinel, among the more exciting items up for bid are 21 cars from the Bob McDorman collection in Columbus, Ohio. Among them, a one-of-a-kind 1953 Buick Skylark hardtop.  Also up for bids will be an ultra rare 1963 Corvette Z06 race car.

Be sure and tune in. I’m sure the auction will make true car buffs long for bigger garages or some other place for collector car storage.

Pity, I’m not the Sultan of Brunei because I’d buy them all to stimulate the economy.If you live near Orlando, for $10, you can attend the Mecum car auction.

This article was written by SEO web copywriter Eric Anderson. Eric’s recent writing projects include a Tampa mortgage website and a web site for a small business strategic planning consultant.

Why I love the lines of the car, I can’t say. Anyone know exactly what it is?

The image was taken by photographer Marcin Wichary at the Miami Auto Show. He has quite a nice set of images from that event.

Check it out on his Flickr Photostream. Image licensed under Creative Commons attribution license.

Add to this the economic downturn that has hurt every major sector of the economy, especially the credit markets (which, of course, makes it especially hard to finance purchases like cars) and you have the perfect blend of circumstances to obliterate the automobile industry. 

It is against this rosy backdrop that Nissan is announcing the release of the 370Z.  The 370Z is reminiscent of its cousin, the 350Z, but with notable stylistic changes.  It is hard to say what the full force of the new features will be as little more than some pictures have been released.  But it is obvious that many things were borrowed from Nissan’s Infiniti line.  This is especially true of the interior and the 3.7-liter, V-6 engine.

Meanwhile, the folks at Chevrolet are pinning their hopes on the new 2010 Camaro.  The 2010 Chevy Camaro will feature a powerful V8 and a six-speed manual transmission.  There is also said to be a slightly tamer version of the 2010 Camaro available in V6.  So far, although consumers have to wait until next year to start purchasing them, indications are good because an EBay auction fund raiser saw one of the Camaros go for over $70,000. 

Whether either of these, or similar cars will help the auto industry steer out of its spiral is hard to say.  But one thing is for certain, many fans of sports cars cars are choosing alternative ways of driving them.

“The 2010 Camaro and new Nissan are both exciting cars that we would love to add to our collection of sports cars,” states Ron Sturgeon, owner of the DFW sports car sharing club.  

Written by web copywriter G.D. Gregory.  If you are interested in having me write stories for you or seeing my portfolio, please contact me at ggpsu@yahoo.com.

“The long product development cycle for cars has made it tough sledding for all of the American automakers, but they are making the transition to more fuel efficient cars. The Chevrolet Beat should sell very well to customers who are concerned about rising gas costs,” says Ron Sturgeon, owner of a DFW luxury car rental company.

The Chevrolet Beat was one of three non-hybrid concept cars that GM introduced at the New York International Auto Show in 2007.

In addition to the Beat, GM also showcased two other compact concept cars: the Groove and the Trax. Auto enthusiasts cast their votes for the best of the three concept cars on the official GM survey website.

So far, the Chevy Beat has been the favorite among survey participants with 885,000 votes, 46% of the total number of votes cast. It also got the nod from Wired Autotopia’s Chuck Squatrilia as a heart stopping Aveo in hot pants. Its highly chromed interior is wickedly cool, but we will have to see how much of it makes it into the production version of the Beat.

Originally, the Chevy Beat was going to be produced for sale in Europe and Asia only, but high US gas prices have prompted GM to offer the Beat in the American market.

The Chevrolet Beat is a two-door subcompact that gets an impressive 40 miles per gallon. The 1.2-liter supercharged engine promises to deliver fuel efficiency, decent acceleration, and a fun driving experience.

Sturgeon, who also owns a exotic car sharing club in Dallas TX and a business that provides fantasy sports car driving tours is impressed by GM’s innovation. “The Beat is going to be the most fuel-efficient car in GM’s line-up,” he says.

The Beat will not arrive at US dealerships for more than a year, but it should sharpen GM’s appeal to drivers feeling pinched at the pump.

The lightly armored H2 looks like your average every-day H2, but is equipped with a Level 2 protection as classified by the US Military. This translates to: it has bulletproof glass on all windows and can withstand gunshots from weapons up to a .30 caliber carbine! It is also impenetrable by such instruments as hammers, bats and hatchets. Underneath, you have ballistic steel plates protecting its front, sides and roof.

In addition to all the above, the vehicle’s undercoating is designed to repel the shock effects of any kind of explosive charge, including land mines and grenades. The steel reinforced Run-Flat tires won’t deflate, even when punctured by an object such as a nail, spike or bullet.

This is truly the perfect way to travel low-key in protection, in what looks to be a standard H2 Hummer. No one but the driver will know without a doubt that they and their party are safe from most means of harm. This is the ultimate in personal protection!

This baby doesn’t come cheap in Australia. In the US it sells for $75,000 but in Australia it can run over $240,000 to include the import duty, luxury car tax and GST, and the cost of the conversion to get the car to meet local compliance regulations (included in the $240k price tag).