The class of 2004

Whose air is it, anyway?

The future belongs to automakers who embrace change. Toyota surpassed Ford as the world's No. 2 automaker in 2004 and will likely overtake GM in 2005, when it will sell more than 100,000 hybrid cars in the U.S. Some analysts predict a million hybrid sales per year by 2010. Who will build them? Well, that's the very question.

It was a good year for machinery. We saw a gangsta Chrysler, a $90,000 VW, the Ford Mustang and Ford GT born in clouds of vaporized-rubber glory. We saw a 617-hp Mercedes-Benz SLR and the $450,000 Porsche Carrera GT -- these cars, collectively, might be called the Excess Express. For every one of these machines, there is an ideal buyer. On this page, some of the great cars of 2004 and the types of L.A. owners they might attract. Here's hoping for better times and better cars in 2005.

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Ford Mustang: $19,410-$26,330 (base price range)

Perfect match: D-girl in need of a night out

A D-girl is a "development girl," one of Hollywood's army of ambitious, underpaid young women who move an entertainment project from idea to reality. For them there is the new, indisputably cool Ford Mustang for about $20,000. The new Mustang "re-imagines" -- as they say in Tinseltown -- the great Mustangs of the 1960s and early '70s, from the vertical tail lamps to the fast-forward nose. However, if the D-girl in question is a trust-funder, she may consider the hotter, 300-hp GT model with the V8 engine. In this town, it's all about who's hot.

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Maserati Quattroporte: $95,500

Perfect match: Broker-turned-restaurateur bent on losing money

You made your millions in the dot-com boom; now it's time to follow your dream of owning an Italian restaurant, and driving it into the ground. For you, the new Maserati Quattroporte, a stunningly potent, wonderfully crafted sedan whose museum-quality lines make the competition from Stuttgart and Munich look positively Russian. The 394-hp Quattroporte's performance is stellar, but it's not a particularly easy car to drive. Its DuoSelect six-speed paddle-shifted gearbox makes parallel parking downright comical. But just look at it. Besides, if you were motivated by reason, you wouldn't have gotten into the restaurant business, would you?

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Land Rover Range Rover: $72,285-$73,085

Perfect match: Discerning CAA agent

A good talent agent has to be a player, and in Beverly Hills, players drive Range Rovers. The Range Rover's off-road credentials are impeccable -- it's equipped with height-adjustable independent suspension, a torque-rich V8 and permanent four-wheel drive -- but the main attraction is the bold, beautiful styling: the shark-gill accents, "floating roof" design.... All in all, a wonderful, lordly perch from which to see and make the scene. The Range Rover takes a back seat to no one in amenities, offering integrated navigation, stereo and communications systems, including the Bluetooth phone capability without which no agent could breathe.

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Ferrari F430: $190,000 (estimated base price)

Perfect matches: Hollywood tyrants, hip-hop tyros

There are cars and then there are these cars -- Ferraris. The new F430 -- a 490-horsepower mid-engine Berlinetta -- goes from 0 to 60 in less than four seconds and from zero to ohmigod in less than that. People on the street get that gape-mouth, bulging-eye look -- like koi -- when they see it. A truly spectacular performer, the F430 features a variable dynamics system called a Manettino, a five-position switch that progressively raises the electronic thresholds of the traction and stability, suspension and engine management systems. Yes, the F430 stops traffic wherever it goes, but the Ferrari is happier when it just blows traffic off the road.

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Ferrari F430: $190,000 (estimated base price)

Perfect matches: Hollywood tyrants, hip-hop tyros