I think that you answered your question.

I propose the Lotus T88 as an honorable mention.

lbs/HP is a metric that tells more about the car, but HP/l tells more about the engine tuning.

Didn't SAE change how HP was measured in '09?

Don't approve.

Slow and without any poise. This is pathetic! Just put it out of its misery, pronto!

Hey, I and @aismo did!

The glitches surely should be addressed when the same car is made for decades on end. Yet, this does not a luxury car make.

The Chaparral "Fanned" 2J.

Don't get me wrong. I find the turn by Mercedes to be the me-too BMW pathetic. It used to be fairly competent around turns but offered comfort that BMW could only dream of. In the end, for the last couple of decades Mercedes have looked silly and out of place. Sure, BMW sold cars with plastic interiors like hot…

Except that probably 500lbs lighter, it'll likely cream the portly American.

You lost me when you said that American luxury cars had been refined. No, they stopped in the 50's, while the Japanese and the Europeans kept on leading the automotive state of the art.

I don't know what journalists were told at the unveiling of the X-Prize, but the same website also describes the prize as:

What I learned 8 years ago when negotiating the price on an used car was that, after sticking to my budget for a while, I lamented that perhaps that car was too expensive for me, thanked the salesman for his time and walked away. He came after me in the parking lot to agree to my terms.

Prize goal: real-world-capable 100 miles per gallon vehicles that are safe, affordable and desirable.

I remember that I couldn't match the acceleration of a loaded electric bus from the 40's when I had an Opel Ascona 1.8!

Where's the Earth Liberation Front when one needs it?

If it were owned by an lawyer, it would make this a perfect start of better times.

"What does Dodge need to do to jump start sales? Add a convertible? Redesign the interior? Restyle the sheet metal? Redesign the car, creating shorter overall dimensions?"

Exactly, because without any locking differential they don't have any real off-road capability but dirt-road capable at best. Because they handle like jello, they are no fun to drive at all.