The Best Car Photos Of 2012

The year is now at its end, and as we look forward to all the exciting reveals of 2013, cars like the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette, 2014 Mercedes-Benz S Class and Ferrari’s F150 supercar, we shouldn’t forget some of the impressive new cars launched over the past 12 months.

Some of those cars are a bit more memorable than others, and not because of superior engineering, avant-garde design or how many gadgets they were packing. No, some are more memorable simply because of the stunning imagery associated with their respective reveals.

Of course, simply pointing a camera and shooting is no guarantee of creating brilliant photos, no matter how lust-worthy a car is. It takes a good deal of talent and preparation, as well as plenty of luck.

The end result of all these measures, however, is that some rather mundane models can end up being the cars remembered most. We hope automakers take note, as we love ogling over images of new cars just as much as the fans.

Let us now take a look at some of the highlights from the past 12 months.

We’re sure you’ll have your own favorites--some of which were probably plastered across your desktop at some point--but these are Motor Authority's picks for the 24 (yes, that's two for each month) best car photos of 2012:

24) Starting off the list is this image of the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 45th Anniversary Edition. Taken at a deserted track on a clear and sunny day, it makes you yearn to hop behind the wheel and take this beast for a spin. Sadly, that’s almost next to impossible as only five of these special edition race cars are being built.

23) Next on this list is a little piece of forbidden fruit that we desperately want to see in the U.S. The car is the new Opel Cascada convertible, which goes on sale in Europe next year and hopefully will be hitting local roads as a Buick at some point in the future. The open top, perfect weather and empty miles of winding road in front of you--what's not to like?

22) Moving along, we come to this impressive shot showing close to 1,000 Ferraris taking to the Silverstone race track in the UK. A total of 964 Ferraris congregated at the track, helping organizers set a new world record for the largest single gathering of Prancing Horses.

21) It’s rare that photos from an aftermarket tuning firm look better than most of the official shots put out by the automakers, but this shot from Texan tuner Hennessey is particularly noteworthy. Of course, it didn’t hurt that the car being photographed was a 1,226-horsepower Cadillac CTS-V Coupe.

20) The McLaren MP4-12C Spider was one of the most stunning cars of the past 12 months. Take it to an empty track and start burning some rubber and you’ve got the perfect view to capture.

Hit the next two pages to see the rest of our list.