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The Drive
3 days ago
- Automotive
- The Drive
The Disappearing Car Door Was a Cool Idea With Impossible Execution
The latest car news, reviews, and features. It's fascinating how today's algorithms can dredge up something from the depths of the internet and serve it up to vast swaths of people. If not for that phenomenon, this video of a clever 'disappearing car door' system built by a defunct company called Jatech would've assuredly faded away ages ago. There's precious little information on it, but if the associated YouTube comments on this video are any indication, it will continue to mystify people for generations. The video was uploaded by an account named 'Disappearing Car Door' 18 years ago; this, unsurprisingly, is its only contribution to the platform. In the three-minute film, we see demonstrations of the system on a pair of Lincoln Mark VIIIs. The door, which has been lengthened by 10 inches to bypass the car's original B-pillar, swivels under the vehicle as its window retracts. In a later demonstration of a different implementation on a prototype passenger cell, we see a door rotate down without lowering the effective floor of the car. That would be handy, as ground clearance is probably one of the system's most obvious issues. You'd think another would be side impact safety, but Jatech was confident that not only was its concept not a detractor to crashworthiness, but it reportedly improved it. We're definitely lacking some details here, but the company talked of a 'structural reintegration of the door with the unibody' and a bespoke custom door frame system cryptically named 'Cruciform' on its website, which is fortunately still accessible by way of the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Jatech also promoted that it worked with 'the finest and most experienced coach builders in the U.S. and Europe' to realize its breakthroughs. And yes, there was supposedly a manual override of some kind, somewhere. It's unclear how much time exactly was spent working on this system, but it seems it had a long history. As the company told it, the Lincoln Mark VIII prototypes were supposedly built at Ford's suggestion after the automaker invited Jatech to visit its design subsidiary Ghia, in Italy. Cadillac purportedly expressed interest as well. Neither manufacturer bit, though, and as of 2010, Jatech was still hoping to commercialize its invention. The 'designers of the exciting Disappearing Car Door technology are now in a position to equip your favorite car with our cool, sexy, safe, and convenient automatic car door,' the company's website read in a snapshot from 15 years ago. Jatech was even willing to 'design an original vehicle body' that incorporated the tech. While no such examples apparently ever existed, the site does feature sketches of generic sports cars, indicating that Jatech felt its solution was viable across a variety of body styles. This alternate example Jatech tested keeps the flip-down door within the car's body. In that way, it's more similar to the approach BMW took with the Z1, but more complicated. disappearingcardoor via YouTube Credit to Jatech, the disappearing door did bear some advantages. The extended aperture was ideal for vehicles with rear seats but no back doors. The swiveling door also consumed almost no space when opening, meaning you could park much closer to other vehicles without risk of contact. Also, note how the side mirrors on the Mark VIII prototype are attached to the A-pillar and not the door; because of this, an exiting passenger could still use that mirror to determine when to safely leave the vehicle. All that said, the benefits didn't seem to outweigh the drawbacks. Without more specific information or any crash test data to suggest otherwise, we're skeptical of the claimed safety advantages of the system. Complexity is an obvious problem, and if you look at the insides of the doors on the cars Jatech did convert, you'll notice that they're completely featureless—no pockets, no design, nothing. Perhaps the company didn't feel a need to waste effort mocking up custom door cards for these prototypes, or perhaps space and clearance were challenging considerations to overcome. Either way, you'd have to figure there was a reason the folks at Ford and GM didn't play along, let alone steal the idea for their own. Still, that quaint three-minute ad has racked up over 21 million views on YouTube as of this writing, indicating that for all its faults, Jatech achieved something remarkable here. Who can guess how many impressions it'll have amassed by the time it reappears in our social feeds in another five or 10 years' time? Got a tip? Email us at tips@
Car and Driver
19-05-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
2026 Infiniti QX60 Looks a Bit Fresher and Gets a Bumpin' Stereo
The Infiniti QX60 is updated for 2026 with a new front-end design, a Sport trim level, and additional standard features. The variable-compression-ratio turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four engine is unchanged. Infiniti says the updated QX60 goes on sale this summer, but the company has yet to release prices. Infiniti is attempting to bring some of the gravitas of the big QX80 SUV down to its little sibling, the QX60. For 2026, the three-row mid-size luxury crossover gets a freshening that includes a new audio system, new standard features, a new Sport trim level, and other design updates to link it visually with the QX80, which was redesigned for 2025. It also gains a new hands-free highway driver-assistance system to bring it in line with some of its competitors that offer a similar feature. The new grille, bumper, and front fascia make for a slightly different look, and the large Infiniti logo now comes standard with illumination. Infiniti has replaced the previous QX60's brightwork with dark-chrome trim. There are also new wheel designs, and 20-inch wheels are now standard to replace the previous base trim level's 18-inchers. Out back, the QX60 looks mostly the same, save for a new Infiniti script, some different badging, and the deletion of the fake exhaust outlets from the lower fascia. The nice Deep Emerald green color pictured here is new. View Interior Photos INFINITI Inside, a digital gauge cluster is now standard, and there are new upholstery and trim options, including a stone gray color scheme and open-pore wood with metal inlays. A Klipsch audio system is available, with the less powerful version of this system coming with 16 speakers and the top setup in the Autobiography, called Klipsch Reference Premiere, boasting 20 speakers. The latter setup also includes adjustable audio zones so that the driver can hear, for instance, a Bluetooth phone call while the rest of the car continues to hear music. There are no changes to the QX60's engine, which remains a 268-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four that replaced the previous 3.5-liter V-6 for the 2025 model year. When we tested the 2025 QX60, this powertrain got the SUV to 60 mph in 7.5 seconds. Infiniti does say it has made changes to this variable-compression-ratio engine to improve noise, vibration, and harshness. The new-for-2026 Sport trim level does not feature any performance enhancements. Instead, it's simply an appearance package that comes with a different grille, different 20-inch wheels, and a blue-and-black two-tone interior color scheme. It looks much like last year's QX60 Black Edition, with blacked-out trim pieces, and also features a front bumper with a splitter-style lip. View Exterior Photos INFINITI The Sport joins the lineup between the Pure and Luxe trims, with the Autograph sitting above. We don't expect prices to change too much, but they'll likely rise some from the current model, which starts at $51,550 and ranges up to $67,500 for an Autograph. Joey Capparella Deputy Editor, Rankings Content Despite being raised on a steady diet of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or perhaps because of it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive industry throughout his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He found a way to write about cars for the school newspaper during his college years at Rice University, which eventually led him to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first professional auto-writing gig at Automobile Magazine. He has been part of the Car and Driver team since 2016 and now lives in New York City.
The Herald
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Herald
New Suzuki Dzire debuts in South Africa
The Dzire is available in seven exterior colours: Alluring Blue Pearl Metallic, Gallant Red Pearl Metallic, Nutmeg Brown Pearl Metallic, Arctic White Pearl, Splendid Silver Pearl Metallic, Magma Gray Metallic and Bluish Black Pearl. Inside, the cabin closely resembles that of the fourth-generation Swift. Highlights include a wraparound dashboard with horizontal air vents and centre controls angled towards the driver for better ergonomics. Standard equipment across the range includes a tilt-adjustable urethane steering wheel, digital air conditioning, front and rear USB ports (type-A and type-C in the rear), front and rear speakers, rear parking sensors, hill hold control, electric windows, a height-adjustable driver's seat, manual headlight levelling, central locking with alarm/immobiliser and a 12V power socket.
