The Autopian has run a three-part series on Pontiac Aztek, a vehicle still known far more as a case study for corporate interference in design than any of its merits. Ex-car designer Adrian Clarke wrote the pieces, Clarke bearing a degree from the Royal College of Art in London, time with J Mays as one of his tutors, and workplace tenure with an OEM we suspect was Jaguar Land Rover. We got to his series in reverse order, stumbling on the last one first. That piece showcases three never-before-seen Aztek design sketches created before and after the first concept, such as the one above, all of which Clarke received from the GM Design Heritage Archive.

Part of what drew us to the headline, “GM Sent Us Never-Before-Seen Sketches Of The Pontiac Aztek From Before It All Went So Wrong,” was the chance to witness an oft-heard mystery. When the Aztek used to get many more public floggings than it does nowadays, the stories or the comments would always mention some take on, “The original designs were cool before the suits messed them up.” We’d never seen those original designs. Here they are — some of them, at least.

Head to the Autopian for the series and start wherever you like, but we recommend starting at the beginning, “The Pontiac Aztek Was Not A Design Tragedy, It Was A Corporate Tragedy,” then going to the second piece, “How I’d Fix The Design Of The Pontiac Aztek – Without Starting All Over Again.” Even if you don’t agree with Clarke’s fixes (we wish he’d have gone a lot further), he frames the Aztek’s issues in the language of an OEM designer, knowledge that’s helpful for understanding the design of every vehicle. By the time one gets to the third piece, one can appreciate the gulf between a concept that began with the prompt, take “a Camaro and a Blazer and put them in a blender,” and culminated in what GM disgorged onto dealer lots in the summer of 2000. 

As a postscript, GM exterior designer Brigid O’Kane signed her early drawings, so she gets mentioned. Now a professor at the University of Cincinnati, she said in an interview from 2005, “My design for the (Pontiac) Aztek was chosen to go into production. What actually came out was a little bit different. The design evolved. It’s part of the process.” Perhaps not surprisingly, O’Kane’s 2011 paper, “The Role of Proportions in Successful Product Design,” did not feature an Aztek.

The sparsely populated and remote state of Wyoming has never been known for vehicle manufacturing, although Laramie saw its first locally-built horseless carriage hit its streets in 1898. You never know what you’ll find in a junkyard, though, and I managed to spot a genuine Wyoming-built vehicle in a self-service yard just south of the Denver city limits: a Walker Power Truck utility vehicle.

Max Walker was a farmer in southwest Kansas with serious fabrication skills and plenty of creativity, and he moved from building his own tracked farm vehicles to starting a business building slick-looking gasoline-powered golf carts in 1957. Those carts evolved into the first rear-steering Walker Power Trucks in 1962 and then to further refinements for these very useful utility vehicles made for use in factories, airports, farms, etc.

According to an interview with the son of the company’s founder, Max Walker built about a thousand Power Trucks through 1968. Then a cash shortage led him to sell his company to an oil-and-mining outfit in Casper, Wyoming. The new Walker Manufacturing Corporation built Power Trucks until its bankruptcy in 1970. I am guessing the model year of this Power Truck as 1969, but it could have been built at any time during the 1968-1970 period.

Max Walker went broke as a result of the Wyoming bankruptcy, but he bounced back and began building agricultural cab coolers in Greeley, Colorado (which happens to be the home of one of my favorite car graveyards). Starting in 1980, he began building innovative mowing machines. Max Walker passed away in 2011, but Walker Manufacturing is still making mowers to this day. There’s a lot of history in the junkyard, if you know where to look!

Power comes from an Onan boxer-twin four-stroke gasoline-burner. The early Power Trucks had 16-horsepower Onans, but I couldn’t get specs for the Casper-built examples. This likely isn’t the original engine, anyway, given how many Onan made.

Power goes through a centrifugal clutch and a very simple transmission.

There’s Drive, Neutral, Reverse and a choke. What more do you need?

There’s an off-the-shelf Stewart-Warner speedometer. Speeds above about 20 mph must have been exciting. The odometer reads 7,723 miles.

It has been sitting outdoors for many years, but such a simple machine with a sold-by-the-millions generator engine shouldn’t be too hard to get back into operation. Colorado Auto & Parts will sell entire vehicles, unlike most of the big corporate chains, so give them a call if you want to rescue this rarity.

The Walker Power Truck in this video is a rear-steerer, unlike today’s front-steering Junkyard Gem, but you get the idea.

Tesla has a plan to fend off cheaper competition from China with a $25,000 electric car. But first it has to overhaul a 100-year-old manufacturing process pioneered by Henry Ford.

The company is moving to what it calls an “unboxed” approach, which is more like building Legos than a traditional production line. Instead of a large, rectangular car moving along a linear conveyer belt, parts are assembled simultaneously in dedicated areas and then the subassemblies are all put together at the end. Tesla says the change could reduce manufacturing footprints by more than 40%, allowing the carmaker to build future plants far faster and at less expense.

If the new assembly process is successful, Tesla says it can slash production costs in half. That will be key to delivering a cheap enough car to stoke demand that’s slowed of late and pressured the electric-car maker’s stock price. Tesla shares are down 29% so far this year, compared to a 10% increase in the S&P 500 during the same period.

“If we’re going to scale the way we want to do, we have to rethink manufacturing again,” Lars Moravy, Tesla’s vice president of vehicle engineering, said during the company’s March 2023 investor day.

The problem is that investors haven’t heard many details about how Tesla has progressed with the idea since then, even as Chinese automakers have slashed costs and Detroit carmakers have refocused their efforts on cheaper models, as well.

On the company’s most recent earnings call in January, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk stuck to generalities, saying only that Tesla was “very far along” on making a cheaper car, which is slated to start production at the end of next year. While he mentioned the new “revolutionary manufacturing system,” calling it “far more advanced than any automotive manufacturing system in the world, by a significant margin,” he didn’t elaborate.

Musk is notorious for missing deadlines, and some on Wall Street are dubious that Musk can meet his already-delayed timeline — he first teased a $25,000 EV way back in 2020 — much less the savings targets. Tesla’s method is unproven, and may come with its own inefficiencies and risks. A recent analysis by Bloomberg Intelligence estimated that the new modular manufacturing process would cut costs by 33% — not half.

Tesla didn’t respond to requests for comment.

In the absence of details, some people are taking it upon themselves to figure out how well the system might work. Mathew Vachaparampil, CEO of Caresoft, an engineering and automotive benchmarking firm, said his company’s engineers spent 200,000 hours building a digital replica of Tesla’s unboxed platform. They found that Musk’s ambitions are technically possible, and Vachaparampil said they would make “huge financial sense” — if achieved.

Ford’s Highland Park plant, birthplace of the factory assembly line. (Ford)

Ford’s legacy

Most mass-market automakers still largely adhere to the same basic setup used by Henry Ford in 1913 to make the Model T:

• Stamped panels are put together in a framing station and welded into a rectangular, boxed-shaped car.
• Doors are put on.
• The vehicle then goes through the paint shop — either dipped into a big vat, or sprayed and dried in large ovens.
• The freshly painted doors are then taken off.
• Wiring and an engine or motors are dropped in along a winding assembly line.
• Seats and other parts of the interior are put in, and then glass windshields and windows are added.
• The doors come back on right before a final inspection.

That process, Tesla executives say, is rife with inefficiencies. Moving a car-sized “box” through a factory (as shown at the top of this article) takes up a lot of space. Painting an entire machine, instead of just the panels that need it, takes time and wastes energy. And working off of a hulking frame means only a few people can assemble their parts at a given time.

The unboxed method doesn’t require a big skeleton of a machine to move through a factory. Instead, splitting off into small groups, workers labor on various components of a vehicle simultaneously before it comes together at a single point in final assembly.

The potential cost savings are substantial, according to Vachaparampil. Caresoft sees at least a 50% reduction in paint-shop investment in new factories alone.

Paint has long been the most expensive part of any auto plant: The high heat required for automotive paint is energy intensive, and there are strict emissions requirements. The throughput of the paint shop largely determines a plant’s total output, according to auto plant experts.

A typical car body is 6 feet (1.8 meters) wide and 15 feet long. Instead of sending the entire rectangular body through a paint shop, Tesla’s unboxed process will paint the individual panels before the car is assembled.

Untested method

The unboxed method has plenty of risks of its own, mainly that it’s unproven and requires shifting to a new assembly process, which could lead to production delays.

But it’s not the first time Tesla has made significant changes to improve long-held manufacturing practices.

With its Model Y, instead of stamping various pieces of the car, Tesla turned to die-casting machine presses to “gigacast” — or create giant molds — of the front and rear of the vehicle. That eliminated the need for hundreds of parts and welds.

Other U.S. automakers are also working to fend off the competitive threat posed by Chinese cars. Ford Motor Co., for example, is exploring a compact EV that would use a cheaper battery.

“The concern is that the lower end of the automotive market isn’t currently being served by electric vehicles, but they will be served by China if U.S.. companies can’t cut costs,” said Susan Helper, a professor of economics at Case Western University, who recently served as a senior adviser for industrial strategy at the White House Office of Management and Budget.

But Musk’s company has an edge over longtime automakers in adapting to novel, potentially cheaper manufacturing techniques. Tesla’s factories are newer than most, and some aren’t even under construction yet, so it can more easily and cheaply tailor its facilities to run on cutting-edge manufacturing methods.

That doesn’t mean it’s easy. The company has warned investors that it’s “between two major growth waves” as demand for the Model 3 and Y — both of which have been out for years — tops out. Tesla delivered 1.8 million cars last year, but aims to deliver 20 million cars by 2030. To do that, it will need much cheaper cars.

• Tesla is finally resorting to ads — something Elon Musk has avoided for years.
• The company upped its ad spending to $6.4 million in 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• Investors are losing patience with Tesla amid stiff EV competition and managerial chaos.

Things are not going well for Tesla.

Between bad press about the electric vehicles themselves and the chaotic whims of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Tesla’s stock value has dropped this year by nearly 30%.

Tesla’s sales have gotten so bad that the company has resorted to advertising — something Elon Musk famously said he can’t stand.

“I hate advertising,” Musk posted on Twitter, now X, in 2019.

Despite Musk’s dislike for ads, the company spent some $6.4 million on them in the United States in 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported. That’s compared to a paltry $175,000 in ad spending in 2022. Tesla’s ads have touted its Model Y on Meta and Google, according to their respective ad libraries.

The company has faced competition from buyers who prefer a hybrid vehicle to a full EV, as well as companies offering incentives to switch, such as BMW’s limited-time $1,000 reward for customers who trade in for its own EV.

Musk agreed to try advertising in May after the suggestion came up at a company shareholder meeting, The Wall Street Journal reported. Investors are reportedly losing patience with Tesla’s performance and managerial chaos.

“We’ll try a little advertising and see how it goes,” Musk said, assuaging a meeting attendee who suggested Tesla lacks appeal to wealthy drivers seeking a more sporty car, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider on Saturday.

The Mercedes-Benz CLA’s style no longer stands out as it once did. Once Mercedes designers started making the core of the brand’s lineup (C-, E- and S-Class) look more like the CLS, it became harder for the sleek, coupe-like four-door’s little brother to make a lasting impression. That’s OK. If anything the CLA is more Mercedes than ever, and it’s deeper than just design. With updated styling, more standard equipment and a new mild-hybrid powertrain, the 2024 edition sees the most significant upgrades since the CLA’s latest generation launched for 2020. I spent a week rolling around the suburbs in this hyper blue Benz CLA 250 4Matic, and thanks to its brilliant color, I maintained a modest level of celebrity status.

1. OK, let’s talk about the color

I know, I know — it’s superficial to lead off with a car’s color. Hyper blue is new for the 2024 model year, and this turquoise/teal shade gives this car a presence. I noticed a guy snapping pictures of it in my driveway, and it turned heads at school drop off. It’s like a Miami Vice shade that’s fairly uncommon in the car business, and it pierced the late winter gloom. Doing a little mind reading, I’d guess that most people who saw this CLA 250 had no idea it’s the entry-level Mercedes sedan (the A-Class was discontinued). 

2. It’s not cheap

I remember when the CLA was pitched as the gateway to Mercedes with a starting sticker just below $30,000. It wasn’t just less expensive than the C-Class, it was meant to bring in a new customer to Mercedes who could grow with the brand.

After the short-lived run of the A-Class in America, the CLA is again the gateway, but now it’s $43,200 for the front-wheel-drive version, and this 250 4Matic starts at $45,200. The options, including multibeam LED headlights, the Premium Package, the Winter Package, heated seats and Burmester surround sound lift the price to $54,380, including destination. It feels like an authentic Mercedes with a price to match.

3. But it’s worth it because …

The interior is gorgeous. This one is furnished in macchiato beige with aluminum trim accents. Mercedes has spent the past decade riffing on nautical vibes, and the three circular vents in the middle set in gloss black trim create an old-school speedboat vibe. I selected purple ambient lighting to mix things up. The 10.25-inch customizable instrument panel is clear and colorful. I preferred to leave it in the basic speedometer and tachometer configuration. There’s another 10.25-inch touchscreen in the middle that houses the infotainment system. With the latest MBUX generation added for 2024, the system is relatively easy to use, but I still miss Mercedes’ old rotary console controller that allowed the driver to flip through things easier. In general, I feel like this is the right balance of screens vs. buttons. Watch my interior review below and judge for yourself.

4. The spunky powertrain has some character

It’d been a minute since I’d driven the CLA, so nevermind the mild-hybridization added for 2024, this generation’s eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission was also new to me. The previous CLA had an unloved seven-speed DCT. New for ’24, Mercedes added a 48-volt belt-driven hybrid system that provides 13 more horsepower earlier in the band (5,500 rpm vs. 5,800 rpm) to support acceleration, though the engine’s ratings remain unchanged. With the power going to all four wheels via 4Matic, the 250 is fun enough to drive. With a front-wheel-based chassis and just 221 hp, it’s not much of a pocket rocket, though the 258 pound-feet help you sprint to 60 mph in 6.3 seconds. For about $2,000 more than this 250 4Matic, you can get the CLA 35 AMG with a different 2.0-liter turbo-four boosted to 302 hp. You can also get a basic C 300 with 4Matic for about $50,000. I’d do that.

5. As does the design, but Mercedes should go further with a shooting brake

When the CLA first arrived back in 2013 with its swoopy silhouette and concave styling elements, it was clear Mercedes was willing to take risks. It was a baby CLS. Times have changed, but the CLA remains a style marker. While this four-door has a presence, I think the well-received shooting brake sold in other markets would be a smart addition to the line. An auto writer likes a German station wagon? Stop the presses. But hear me out. 

The next-gen CLA is expected to go electric, as previewed by the Concept CLA Class shown last fall in Munich, and the modular platform accommodates sedan, crossover and wagon variants. Americans tend to prefer crossovers to sedans. Why not meet in the middle with an electric wagon?

BEIJING — Shares of China’s Xiaomi surged as much as 16% on Tuesday as the electronics maker’s sporty electric vehicle launched last week drew strong interest, though a brokerage forecast the firm would lose nearly $10,000 per car this year.

The stock touched its highest since January 2022 on the first day of trading since the Thursday launch of Xiaomi’s debut car, which draws styling cues from Porsche. It later pared gains to close 9% higher, adding $4 billion to its market value.

At the day’s highest, the Chinese company had a valuation of $55 billion at a share price of HK$17.34 — higher than that of traditional U.S. automakers General Motors and Ford, at $52 billion and $53 billion, respectively.

Xiaomi’s SU7 — short for Speed Ultra 7 — enters a crowded China EV market with an attention-grabbing price tag — under $30,000 for the base model, cheaper than Tesla’s Model 3 in China.

While the world’s largest auto market is challenging for newcomers due to a cut-throat EV price war and slowing demand, analysts have said Xiaomi has deeper pockets than most EV startups and its smartphone expertise gives it an edge in smart dashboards — a feature prized by Chinese consumers.

Xiaomi has advised potential buyers of its sedan that they could face wait times of four to seven months, a sign of robust demand. On Friday, the company said it had received 88,898 pre-orders for the car in the first 24 hours of sales.

The company, which earns the majority of its $37.5 billion revenue from selling smartphones, has already produced 5,000 SU7 vehicles it dubbed the “Founder’s Edition” that it says come with additional accessories for early buyers.

On Tuesday, Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun said on his social media account that deliveries from that first batch would start across 28 Chinese cities on Wednesday, marked by a ceremony at its Beijing factory.

The SU7 launch fulfills the ambition of Lei, who announced the company’s foray into EVs in 2021, pledging to invest $10 billion in the auto business as “the last major entrepreneurship project” of his life.

Xiaomi has said it expects to lose money on the SU7, and some analysts predict the loss would be substantial.

“We maintain our cautious view that ultimately everyone could be a loser” within the 200,000 to 300,000 yuan ($27,649.90 to $41,474.85) segment, Citi Research analysts said in a note on Tuesday.

Based on a projected volume of 60,000 units this year, Citi estimates the SU7 could generate a net loss of 4.1 billion yuan ($566.82 million) — on average, 68,000 yuan ($9,400.96) per car.

Following the SU7 launch, other Chinese EV brands with comparable models announced price cuts and subsidies. In 2024, the 200,000 to 300,000 yuan segment will see around 240 EV models vying for sales, up by almost a fifth versus the previous year, Citi analysts said.

Due to surging demand, Xiaomi has asked suppliers to raise the SU7’s monthly production capacity to 10,000 units, up from 3,000 in March and 6,000 in May, Chinese financial news outlet Yicai reported, citing sources.

Xiaomi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cars Direct saw pricing for the 2025 Cadillac CT5, and it’s apparently hiding familiar surprises. Product folks in Michigan apparently saw fit to eliminate the base “Luxury” trim; the next step up is the Premium Luxury that starts at $44,290 at the time of writing. However, the Premium Luxury trim is said to rise by $4,700 for the refreshed sedan, taking its base price to $48,990 (assuming destination holds steady). That’s a $9,200 dump in entry-level prices over 2024. 

The Sport trim is up, too, by $4,500. That will take its MSRP up to $49,990 after destination.

As Cars Direct notes, even with the increases, the CT5 is the least expensive luxury option; only the Genesis G80 within $5,000 of it. The Audi A6, BMW 5 Series, and Mercedes-Benz E-Class are $10,000 or more away. In the premium sector, the Lexus ES 250 starts in the low $40s, but the Volvo S90 is a few bucks shy of $60,000.  

The refreshed Cadillac brings a larger grille with a gloss black finish and chrome accents as the centerpiece of a reworked front fascia. The Sport model fits a gloss black mesh, which carries over to the lower part of the grille at the bottom of the fascia. The vertical LED signature lighting has been revised and lengthened, accompanied by redesigned, stacked LED headlights. In back comes new rear lighting. Also new are two new paint finishes: Deep Space Metallic and Typhoon Metallic.

CT5 Chief Designer Alex MacDonald called the interior “the most driver-centric cockpit we’ve done.” It focuses on the new 33-inch display, curved toward the driver, which serves as both infotainment and instrument panel. This 9K high-definition LED display is a touchscreen to the right (the traditional infotainment space) as well as to the left of the steering wheel. It uses Google Built-In technologies, including Google Maps, Google Assistant and Google Play.

Other new tech features fill the spec sheet, like an available 5G Wi-Fi hotspot for better connectivity, as well as Amazon Alexa Built-In. The driver assistance tech improves with standard blind-spot steering assist and intersection automatic emergency braking, improved lane-keep assist, and available road sign recognition. Super Cruise is available, with improved transitions between hands-off and hands-on driving.

Engines don’t change, either a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four making 237 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque, or a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 making 335 hp and 405 lb-ft. The 2025 CT5 still comes standard with rear-wheel drive, available with all-wheel drive. 

We don’t have pricing or info on the CT5-V and CT5-V Blackwing, but Cadillac Global Vice President John Roth says they’ll have “lots of good stuff to talk about in the future.”

Related Video

Buick showed us the 2024 Envision in a single image nearly a year ago, and while the wait’s been a long one, we now have all the details on this crossover’s thorough refresh. And yes, even though we’re already rather deep into 2024, this refresh is indeed for the 2024 model year Envision.

The big changes outside are plenty visible at first glance as you see the Wildcat EV-inspired front end that’s been splashed across Buick’s SUV lineup. The Envision looks largely similar to before around back, though Buick notes it’s using new badging on the rear fascia. Plus, new 20-inch wheels are standard on both the ST and Avenir trims, while the base Preferred trim makes do with 18s.

Its powertrain is all carryover, which means the only engine option is a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that sends 228 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque through a nine-speed automatic transmission. One difference for 2024, though, is that all-wheel drive is made standard, eliminating the cheaper FWD versions.

Buick’s most substantial changes are inside the 2024 Envision. It features a standard 30-inch display that stretches across the dash encompassing the instrument cluster and the infotainment screen. This also means it has a new center stack and center console design that better fits this massive display. Many of the hard climate control buttons are eliminated from the center stack, but some key, often-used toggles remain for easy use. The button-operated “shifter” layout on the center console is gone, too, replaced by GM’s column shifter slowly making its way across the entire General Motors lineup. In its place is a massive, shiny volume knob and additional storage capacity.

As for luxuries and styling, the Envision adds new red/black and gray/blue interior color combos, and the front seats themselves are new to be more comfortable than before. Ambient lighting is added to the cabin, and Buick says it’s upped the trim quality on the center console. If you opt for the ST, you get a flat-bottom steering wheel for a sportier appearance, too.

More driver assistance features are being made standard for 2024, though Super Cruise is not one of them despite it being initially touted as one of the new technology items coming to the Envision this year. When queried about its absence, a Buick spokesperson told us this: “The 24MY Envision will no longer debut with Super Cruise, but we plan to bring it to Buick vehicles soon. As timelines shifted, so too did our launch of new Super Cruise-equipped vehicles, but we remain dedicated to bringing the technology to Buick vehicles in the future.”

Pricing is also out for the updated Envision, with the entry-level Preferred starting at $37,295. The ST (pictured in red) starts at $37,795, and the top-shelf Avenir (in silver) at $48,395. Buick says the refreshed Envision will hit dealerships this summer.

Related video:

Mercedes-AMG unveiled a limited-edition version of the CLA 45 S called Edition 1 that will be rarer than many hypercars. Limited to 25 units for the American market, the sedan features several edition-specific design details inside and out and a long list of standard equipment.

Like most of AMG’s previous Edition 1 models, the CLA 45 S stands out primarily with eye-catching styling cues — it’s not for those looking to keep a low profile. It’s finished in Manufaktur Mountain Gray Magno, and designers added orange accents to the front end, the sides, and the rear end for a touch of contrast. There’s also a big “AMG” decal with an orange outline and a checkered-flag background on both sides.

Several equipment packages found on the standard CLA 45’s list of options come standard on the Edition 1. One is the AMG Night Package Plus, which brings black exterior accents; it’s a $750 option on the regular-production model. Another is the AMG Aerodynamics Package, which adds a bigger front splitter, a larger trunk lid-mounted spoiler, and a deeper diffuser; Mercedes-AMG normally charges $1,550 for it. Red-painted brake calipers visible through 19-inch cross-spoke forged wheels finished in matte black add a finishing touch to the look.

Step inside and you’ll find AMG Performance front seats with black microfiber upholstery and orange contrast stitching, orange “CLA 45 S” logos on the front headrests, and red illuminated sill plates. We’re wondering why they’re not orange, like the rest of the accents scattered across the interior. Black and aluminum trim on the dashboard and on the door panels echoes the checkered-flag exterior decals.

It’s standard CLA 45 S fare under the hood, which isn’t a bad thing: Power comes from a turbocharged, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine called M139 internally and rated at 416 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque. An eight-speed automatic transmission sends the engine’s power to the four wheels, and AMG quotes a four-second zero-to-60-mph time. Two multi-plate clutches on the rear differential distribute the engine’s power between front and rear axles, and between each of the rear wheels, to improve traction and handling.

Pricing for the 2024 Mercedes-AMG CLA 45 S starts at $82,354 including a $1,150 destination charge, and deliveries will start later in 2024. For context, the base 2024 CLA 45 S starts at $66,550 including the same destination charge while the entry-level CLA 250 costs $44,350.

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If you’re planning on doing a bit of work in your garage this year, it’s probably a good idea to have a mechanic creeper around. Although the name is pretty strange, mechanic creepers are actually invaluable tools that increase maneuverability when working on a vehicle by a lot. If you’ve ever seen the classic device that mechanics lay on and use to roll themselves in and out from underneath a car they’re working on, you’ve seen a mechanic creeper. Most have a low-profile design, but some transform into a stool or offer other extra benefits. Here are the best mechanic creepers currently available on Amazon.

$46.41 at Amazon

Key Features

• Dual-side storage trays
• Made with blow-molded plastic
• 360° swivel casters
• Carrying handle

Crafted with precision and durability in mind, this mechanic cart boasts a sturdy, one-piece blow molded plastic construction, providing a comfortable and reliable platform for automotive work. Its ergonomic design features a built-in shoulder recess and a soft padded headrest, ensuring optimal comfort during extended use. With dual side storage trays for convenient tool access and a bottom-positioned carrying handle for easy transportation, this creeper offers both functionality and versatility. Enhanced by six 360-degree swivel casters, it enables seamless maneuverability for effortless navigation in any garage or workshop setting. Backed by a limited 1-year manufacturer warranty, the Big Red TRP6240 sets a high standard for performance and reliability in automotive maintenance equipment.

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$54.05 at Amazon

Key Features

• The best-selling garage shop creeper on Amazon
• Maximum weight capacity of 300 lbs
• Converts from creeper to seat
• Vinyl padded seat cushion and headrest

The Pro-LifT Mechanic Z-Creeper is the best-selling garage shop creeper on Amazon and stands out as a top contender for the best mechanic creepers of 2024 due mostly to its versatile design and superior functionality. Seamlessly convertible from a creeper to a seat, this innovative tool enhances maintenance convenience. Its thick padded cushions provide a comfortable base, ensuring easy access and movement during tasks. Equipped with six swivel casters, maneuverability is effortless, allowing for smooth navigation in any workshop or garage. With a sturdy vinyl construction and a weight capacity of 300 pounds, this creeper is both durable and reliable.

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$48.99 at Amazon

Key Features

• 18” x 40” dimensions
• Built-in shoulder recess
• Made with high-quality polyethylene 
• Maximum weight capacity of 330 lbs

The M-Auto Mechanic Roller Creeper stands out as a top contender for the best mechanic creepers of 2024 for several compelling reasons. Its ergonomically designed frame offers exceptional support, allowing users to ease onto the creeper and rest comfortably with the padded headrest for added relief. Crafted from high-density polyethylene, this creeper is not only lightweight but also remarkably durable, providing users with both strength and comfort during use. Its portable design, complete with a bottom-positioned carrying handle, ensures effortless transportation, enabling seamless mobility in any garage or workshop environment. Boasting a generous weight capacity of 330 lbs and equipped with side pockets for tool storage, it caters to the needs of most users while offering practical convenience. Additionally, the inclusion of 6 multi-terrain swivel casters enhances maneuverability, making automotive tasks more efficient and hassle-free.

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$29.99 at Amazon

Key Features

• Soft foam filler
• Resistant to punctures, oil and water
• Easy to clean
• Storage bag included

Despite not being a traditional wheeled mechanic creeper, the Black Magic Creeper Mat earns its place as a top pick for the best mechanic creepers of 2024 due to its innovative design and practical features. Crafted from durable materials like high-quality PU and polyester, this lightweight and portable crawler offers waterproof, oil-proof, and puncture-resistant capabilities, ensuring safety and comfort during automotive work. With its zero ground clearance and unique tubular shape, the mat provides unparalleled maneuverability, allowing users to work even in tight, low-clearance spaces, making it a versatile and indispensable tool for mechanics.

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$34.84 at Amazon

Key Features

• Made with tubular steel
• Tool tray for extra storage
• Fully padded seat
• 1-year limited warranty

This innovative garage/shop seat prioritizes comfort and convenience with its soft, fully padded seat and large segmented tool tray storage, ensuring easy access to essential equipment during automotive tasks. Crafted from heavy-duty tubular steel and equipped with four 360-degree swivel casters for seamless mobility, this creeper seat offers stability, durability and maneuverability.

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What are the benefits of a mechanic creeper?

Mechanic creeper seats can be very helpful if you do a lot of work in your garage or in a shop. The low-profile creepers let you access the underbody of cars much easier and wheels allow you to move around when needed. Stool creepers allow you to work on other parts of the car while removing the need to continuously kneel down. Creeper pads can be used in shops, garages and even in the home without leaving marks on your floor.

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