Detroit 2015: The whitespace race

By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(January 19, 2015) Auto shows are an echo chamber of self importance at nearly every level. From corporate CEOs to journalists scurrying from place to place in hopes of breaking some news, the modern age’s obsession with self runs rampant. This narcissism reached new heights on the GM stand where young women carrying  “selfie sticks” offered to let you take your photo with one of the cars on the stand, so you could tweet it out to your friends and followers.

And it followed Ford’s use of the giant screens behind the stage in the Joe Louis Arena to reprint the specially hashtagged tweets being sent out by media in the stands; many of which were textbook definitions of the words insipid and vain. The combination was enough to make you believe that you could hear God muttering how he should have left the world to the monkeys.

Of course, God’s own voice couldn’t be heard over the thundering crescendo that accompanied Ford’s unveiling of its new GT. That a large number of journalists were shocked that Ford was planning to announce a modern day supercar was the biggest surprise.

Perhaps these folks are too busy tweeting or posting on Facebook to read the speculation here and elsewhere that Ford had something up its sleeve. Though no one knew exactly what form the supercar would take, there was little doubt that — on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the company’s maiden win at the Le Mans 24 Hours — a car that could race in the GT category would be on the menu. The only thing missing was the announcement that it would.

In another place and at another time, Cadillac’s 640-horsepower, 200 mph CTS-V might have made a bigger splash. With Cadillac strategically located across from Mercedes, it was a broadside to the overpowered AMG models the German automaker continues to build, and just another entrant in a horsepower arms race that increasingly makes little sense.

On the plus side, Cadillac didn’t follow Porsche’s example and option the vehicles on its stand to such a ridiculous extent that a potential owner would have to consider taking out a mortgage instead of a car loan.

Perhaps that mortgage could be paid with the nickels and dimes you could have earned every time an executive took to the stage and declared that his company’s offering was designed to fill the whitespace in a particular segment of the market. The overuse of a buzzword is an annual event in Detroit (and at every auto show, to be honest), but the knee-jerk use of whitespace was promiscuous at best, and a sign of a complete lack of imagination at worst. It is here that we begin our story.

Hyundai Santa Cruz Concept

Neither as unique nor as far-fetched as you might think.

This is the Hyundai Santa Cruz, a vehicle that is, according to Hyundai’s own press release, “a convention-shattering crossover truck concept” that “reflects a completely new interpretation of truck utility for a new generation of buyers.” As anyone who has ever seen a Subaru BRAT or Honda Ridgeline will tell you, it isn’t.

Dig a little deeper, however, and you discover that Hyundai has identified a potential opportunity. Research has shown that young adults aren’t willing live with the tradeoffs inherent in an open-bed vehicle. Especially when it is coupled with a lifestyle built around urban living. These buyers want the utility of an open bed, but not the size that comes with a conventional pickup.

Currently, however, millennials represent just seven percent of pickup buyers, and women, who account for more than half of all crossover sales, are just 10 percent of the market. With pickups forming a large part of vehicle sales, a mainstream automaker needs one to both capture the greatest number of sales and protect against weaknesses in other segments. Thus, if it is to continue to grow, Hyundai needs a vehicle like the Santa Cruz. If it is to grow strongly, building a pickup derivative that serves an underserved market makes a lot of sense.

Because the pickup market is a tough one to crack, Hyundai based the Santa Cruz Concept on a crossover chassis with a transverse powertrain and on-demand all-wheel drive. Why invest in a new chassis and drive layout when you can borrow from what you already build? That way, if things don’t go as planned, you don’t have to make a lot of changes to go back to the way things were.

And, with Hyundai’s reputation for squeezing every bit of efficiency out of its assembly facilities, Santa Cruz production could be split between its West Point, Ga., assembly plant and Kia’s new Monterrey, Mexico facility that’s due to open in 2016. Plus, if it came out of the Mexico plant, under NAFTA rules it could be exported to Europe tariff free.

The Santa Cruz is powered by a 2.0-liter turbo diesel with 190 horsepower and 300 lb.-ft. of torque, making it one of three diesel pickups shown at Detroit, and one that would be right at home in Europe. The four-door body is tightly drawn around the relatively long wheelbase, with access to the rear seats (the Santa Cruz seats five) via rear-hinged half doors. Also, the pickup bed can be covered by a folding tonneau, or extended via a piece that slides out of the tailgate. Watch this (white) space. There’s something here.



Nissan Titan XD


The sincerest form of flattery?

Perhaps the funniest thing written in any of the press kits was this gem from Nissan: “Rather than emulating any of the full-size pickups on the market today, including the current Titan, the designers wanted to new TITAN to reflect Nissan's design language — but on a much larger scale than done before. The resulting design is more anatomical, rather than architectural. The front looks like a mask and the sides are shaped, not slabs, with the whole presence anchored by an emphasis on the very large and mechanical-looking wheels, which were inspired by big box-end wrenches.”

Why was it so funny? Other than capitalizing the name of the new truck while not doing the same when talking about the previous generation, the claim that it doesn’t borrow any styling cues from any other large pickup is laughable. In fact, when the covers were pulled off the truck, you could hear journalists as they compared it to the F-150, Silverado and Ram (their description depended upon their vantage point), much as Toyota’s redesign of the Tundra was instantly compared to the F-150 when it was revealed.

Beyond the looks, the big news setting the Titan apart from the competition — putting it in that vaunted whitespace — is the availability of a 5.0-liter Cummins diesel V8. Normally, you have to order a heavy-duty pickup in order to get a diesel engine, and the towing and fuel economy advantages that go with it.

The 5.0-liter Cummins V8 turbo-diesel produces a claimed 310 horsepower, 555 lb.-ft. of torque and is mated to a heavy-duty six-speed Aisin automatic transmission. This combination, according to Nissan, should be 20% more fuel efficient than a gasoline V8 while towing full loads, and have about 45% more torque at cruising speed. A gasoline V6 and V8 also will be offered. Nissan has yet to announce the price differential for a Titan XD equipped with the Cummins engine.

Tested to the SAE’s new J2807 towing standard, a properly equipped Titan XD has a maximum payload of more than 2,000 lb., and a maximum towing rating of more than 12,000 lb. Available towing aids include Trailer Sway Control, Tow/Haul Mode with Downhill Speed Control, an integrated trailer brake controller, and Trailer Light Check. This last item allows one person to hook up the lights and check their function— turn signals, brake lights, running/clearance lights — from inside the truck.

A range of hitches are available, including a gooseneck hitch that’s integrated into the frame and accessible from the bed. As expected, Nissan carried over its Utili-track bed channel system and factory installed spray-in bedliner. In addition, buyers can order  dual lockable storage boxes that are hidden from sight, and accessible from inside the pickup bed.

The XD sits on an extended 151.6-in. wheelbase (almost 20 inches longer than non-XD Titan models), and a fully boxed, full-length ladder frame. Front suspension is by double wishbones with a standard anti-roll bar, while the rear is the expected live axle with leaf springs, leaf bushings and twin-tube dampers. American Axle supplies the rear axle with its 13-in. differential and 3.5-in. axle tubes. Four-wheel drive models get a 9.25-in. front differential. Four-wheel disc brakes are standard with 14.25 x 1.5-in. front and 14.4 x 1.2-in. rear ventilated discs.

Despite its derivative looks, the new Titan looks like a much more mature, well thought out and complete package than the vehicle it replaces. And while it’s not about to set the pickup world on fire and steal large numbers of customers from Ford, GM, Ram or even Toyota, the Titan finally gives Nissan a credible competitor in the full-size pickup segment.

VW CrossCoupe GTE

Waiting patiently for something, anything, to happen.

This is the third midsize concept SUV VW has aimed at the North American market. The first was the seven-passenger CrossBlue Concept shown in 2013, and which highlighted the chinks in VW’s armor. Although it looked like a production-ready design, the CrossBlue was but a trial balloon for a seven-passenger SUV VW’s North American arm desperately needed if it was to reach the lofty sales goals set for it in Wolfsburg.

It was expected that, by the time the 2015 NAIAS rolled around, we’d be crawling around a production model on the VW stand fresh out of the factory in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Fast forward two years, and here we are with VW showing yet another crossover concept, this time with seating for five and the ridiculous CrossCoupe GTE moniker. It is 5.5-in. shorter than the Cross Blue, 0.1-in. taller, 0.6-in. wider, and looks as though it sits on the same wheelbase. Except for what VW calls a new design language developed for the USA, it looks quite similar to the more family oriented CrossBlue; the biggest change is the slightly more sloped D-pillar of the CrossCoupe GTE and revised fender flares. That and the lack of a third row, of course.

Sharp-eyed readers may remember that VW introduced a CrossBlue Coupe at the L.A. Auto Show in November 2013. That hybrid-powered concept was powered by a transverse 3.6-liter V6 with 295 hp and 369 lb.-ft. of torque, a front electric motor making 54 hp, and a rear electric motor with 114 hp. That same powertrain is used again in the GTE.

In fact, the biggest change between the two is the interior and exterior styling. All of which makes you wonder why VW keeps plowing this particular field. Our guess? The GTE’s styling mirrors that of the next Tiguan, due in early 2016, and nothing more.



Buick Avenir concept and 2016 Cascada


The yin and yang of Buick’s future.

We should have seen this coming. Buick has been relegated to building vehicles off front-drive chassis and borrowing the occasional Opel to flesh out its lineup. However, once Cadillac committed to a new larger rear-drive chassis for its 2016 CT6 sedan, it was inevitable that Buick would get a version of its own, if only to help Cadillac defray the costs of the new platform.

The Avenir concept is a vision of how a rear-drive Buick flagship might look. Proposed as a four-passenger sedan with a floating center console that bisects the interior, the Avenir is part fact, part fantasy. The long wheelbase, short overhangs, vestigial boattail, 204.5-in. length and 76-in. width are as accurate as the V6 engine, nine-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive system.

Even the look of the interior, reliance on large color touchscreens for infotainment and instrumentation, and in-cabin wireless hotspot are well within reason. What is pure fantasy, however, is the center console that runs down the center of the cabin and makes the Avenir a four-seat sedan. That will never happen.

The car’s modified boattail also may be in for a change, though Buick designers are hoping that the rounded rump of the Porsche Panamera will have softened the conservative tastes of Chinese party officials and the country’s newly minted millionaires. Plus, it plays well with the sweeping fender line that mimics the brand’s famous side spear, and increases the distance between the Avenir and Cadillac’s more formal CT6. A decision should be forthcoming soon regarding production timing for the large sedan, and whether a rumored coupe version will wear the Riviera name.

Directly across from the Avenir sat the latest production Buick, the Opel-based Cascada. It is based on the Buick Verano/Chevy Cruze chassis, and — in Europe at least — is aimed at Audi’s A5 Cabrio. Over here, the Cascada will fill a void left empty when Chrysler killed off its Sebring convertible, and be the vehicle of choice in suburbia, where its 13.4 cubic foot trunk (top up, 9.8 feet top down) will come in handy for those quick weekend getaways or weekday shopping trips.

The Cascada, which basically puts a Buick insert in the grille opening and replaces Opel’s badges with Buick’s, is powered by a 1.6-liter turbocharged four producing 200 hp and 206 lb.-ft. of torque that is mated to a six-speed automatic transmission. It sits on a 106.1-in. wheelbase, is 56.8-in. tall, 72.4-in. wide and 184.9-in. long, making it marginally shorter, lower, narrower, and a lot better looking and better equipped than the last Chrysler Sebring convertible.

Chevy Volt and Bolt

In comparison, the Prius naming convention looks better all the time.

You have to look past the Acura nose, Honda Civic taillights and generic body shape of the 2016 Chevy Volt to see the technical beauty within. As promised, GM has been assiduously whittling away at the cost and complexity of the Voltec drive system while increasing its efficiency.

Battery storage capacity has increased 20% on a volume basis, and the number of cells reduced from 288 to 192. The T-shaped battery pack stores 18.4 kWh, an increase of 1.3 kWh, and has a higher discharge rate (120 kW vs. 110 kW) than before. In addition, the revised battery pack carries two layers of cells instead of three, which lowers the Volt’s center of gravity. In addition, the Volt’s electric-only range increases 14 miles to 50.

Smaller, lighter drive motors with greater torque and power capacity are used, and reduce motor mass by more than 33 lb. In addition, the primary motor operates at lower speeds, splits its power with the secondary unit at moderate speeds, and works together with the secondary motor at higher loads and speeds. Under the new arrangement, torque response is enhanced, and low-speed acceleration improves by 20%.

Also new is the 1.5-liter range extender gasoline engine, which — unlike its predecessor — runs on regular fuel, despite its 12.5:1 compression ratio. The direct-injection motor produces 101 hp, and features cooled exhaust gas recirculation, a variable-displacement oil pump, and cam phasers with a wider range of operation.

Sitting directly in front of the Volt on the floor of Cobo Hall was the oddly named Bolt. Prior to the opening of the show, it was rumored to be a shot across the bows of Tesla’s Elon Musk, and a concept for a $30,000 SUV with a 200-mile range. So much for speculation. If anything, the Bolt is Chevy’s take on BMW’s i3.

The Bolt concept is nothing more than a placeholder for a potential four-passenger urban crossover EV. Aluminum, carbon fiber, magnesium and woven mesh supposedly are used to drive down weight in an affordable manner, though GM couldn’t say when these materials would be feasible at this price point.

It was intimated, however, that the Bolt’s battery pack would be encased the crossover’s flat floor, which means it would be built on a unique platform and not adapted from a vehicle currently in production. Extrapolating from this, it seems likely that, should GM follow this route, the Bolt would not be the only vehicle to be built off this base.

Volvo S60 Cross Country and Inscription

One is an off-road sedan. The other is China’s first foray into North America.

Think back 12 years and you might vaguely remember a high-riding Lincoln small sedan at the 2003 NAIAS that was called the Navicross. It followed Gerry McGovern’s 2002 Lincoln Continental Concept, and carried over that car’s knife-edge fenders trimmed with bright metal accents, the Lincoln waterfall grille, and suicide doors. However, its was the raised ride height and full-time all-wheel drive that made the Navicross a sport utility sedan that looked like a classier version of the 1980-1988 AMC Eagle sedan. It also showed how the replacement for the Lincoln LS might have looked had Ford not pulled the plug on the luxury division’s $2 billion modular rear-drive platform.

Snap back to 2015, and Volvo rips the wagon body off its high-riding V70 Cross Country wagon, replaces it with the body from an S60, and — voila! — the S60 Cross Country is born. Only this isn’t a concept. It’s another whitespace vehicle designed to plug the gap between crossovers and cars.

The S60 Inscription, on the other hand, is a stretched wheelbase (it's 3.4-in. longer) S60 built at Volvo’s Chengdu, China plant that will be imported to the U.S. in the second quarter of 2015. This will make it the first Chinese-built automobile to be sold here, but certainly not the last. Volvo is making this move because the Chengdu plant is the only one that builds a long-wheelbase S60, and the favorable exchange rate means it can reap greater profits. The plant was erected to build Volvos for the Chinese market, but the slowdown in that economy and U.S. buyer’s desire for a roomier rear cabin gave Volvo the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.



2017 Acura NSX

Overshadowed by the reveal of Ford’s GT, but in some ways more advanced.

The NSX is much like Ford’s previous GT was soon after its 2003 debut; a vehicle you were sure had been on sale for a couple of years, even though it had yet to be introduced in production form. When it debuted as a concept at the 2012 NAIAS, the NSX sported a transversely mounted 3.5-liter direct-injection V6 mated to Honda’s Super Handling All-Wheel Drive (SH-AWD) system; basically the RL sedan’s powertrain mounted back-to-front. That has all changed.

The 60-degree 3.5-liter V6 from the RL has been jettisoned and replaced by a quad-cam, twin-turbo V6 with a 75-degree cylinder bank angle and a dry sump. In addition, the valve train has been kept as compact as possible to reduce engine height, width and weight. Honda isn’t talking numbers, but this engine should be more than capable of matching the 600+ horsepower Ford is claiming for the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 in its 2017 GT.

As a result, the engine’s orientation also has been changed. It’s much easier to package the wider engine and turbo plumbing when the powertrain is sitting along the chassis centerline, not across it. In addition, drivetrain losses are reduced as the power flow has to travel around fewer corners to get to the rear wheels.

The gearbox is a nine-speed dual-clutch automatic with paddle shifters and automatic rev-matching on downshifts. Between it and the engine sits a direct-drive electric motor to support acceleration, braking and shift performance. It is supplemented by a pair of electric motors driving the front wheels. These matched motors not only improve acceleration and braking response and increase energy recovery, they are central to real-time torque-vectoring. This dynamic system not only increases the NSX’s turn-in response and agility, it can be used to stabilize the chassis on the limit, and intervene with the vehicle stability control system when things go wrong.

The body and chassis are similarly intriguing. Details are scarce, but the NSX will use a spaceframe chassis constructed of aluminum, high-strength steel and other advanced alloys. A carbon fiber floor is bonded to this structure, and greatly increases the chassis’ torsional and bending stiffness.

In addition, the cast suspension nodes at each corner of the spaceframe are not the brittle pieces we have come to expect; items that must be replaced after a serious impact. Honda is claiming a new casting technology that marries the design and manufacturing ease of a casting with the elongation properties of a forged material. The conservatively handsome body is a combination of aluminum and sheet molding compound (SMC) panels.

The NSX wears 245/35Z-R19 front and 295/30Z-R20 rear Continental ContiSportContact summer performance tires. Monoblock six-piston front and four-piston rear calipers clamp carbon-ceramic discs, and the standard Agile Handling Assist adds brake torque to enhance yaw response and stability. The NSX will be built at Honda’s Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville, Ohio for global sale.



2017 F-150 Raptor, Shelby GT350R and Ford GT


Aluminum, a flat crank and EcoBoost…oh my!

The Raptor rolled onto the floor of Joe Louis Arena (home of the Detroit Red Wings hockey team) first. Its special blue paint washed out under the harsh lights of the arena, but its menace was no less real. The performance halo for the F-Series lineup, there had been some question whether Ford would continue the model or let it drop when the F-150 body switched from steel to aluminum.

Doing so would have sent the wrong message, and caused some to question the durability of the new F-150. It also would have prevented the engineering team from taking advantage of the performance improvements that come with a large reduction in vehicle weight.

Other than claiming the weight savings from switching to aluminum for the body is “more than 500 pounds,” Ford isn’t saying exactly how much lighter the aluminum Raptor is. In fact, it isn’t giving out much detailed information at all. Take, for example, the high-output 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 under the hood. All Ford will say about the Raptor-exclusive engine is that it will have a higher output than the 411 hp/434 lb.-ft. of torque 6.2-liter V8 it replaces. That and it mates to a new 10-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters. That’s pretty vague.

There’s a purpose-built high-strength steel frame that’s exclusive to the Raptor, more suspension travel, higher capacity Fox Racing shocks, and a new Terrain Management System that lets the driver select from multiple modes (Normal, Street, Weather, Mud and Sand, Baja and Rock). If it’s as much fun as the last one in the muck and muss, watch out.

Next out of the gate was the Shelby GT350R, which drifted from one end of the arena floor to the other in front of the stage. The big news here is under the hood: a 5.2-liter quad-cam V8 with a flat-plane crank. Ford still won’t say how much power the new engine will produce, other than to insist it will be “more than 500 horsepower and 400 lb.-ft. of torque.”

To reduce weight, Ford has removed the air conditioning, audio system, rear seats, trunk floorboard and carpet, backup camera, the emergency tire sealer and inflator, and even the exhaust resonators. This cuts more than 130 lb. from the car’s weight (when compared to the GT350 Track Pack model), though customers who pla
n to pose as well as race can order the optional Electronics Package. It includes dual-zone air conditioning, an eight-inch touch screen navigation system, seven-speaker audio unit, turn signal mirrors and more, and negates the weight save.

The most targeted weight reduction, however, comes from the addition of standard carbon fiber road wheels, which not only cut unsprung weight by approximately 13 lb. per wheel, but reduce rolling inertia. Ford won’t say who the supplier of the wheels might be, but our sources say the carbon fiber rims come from Australia’s Carbon Revolution. Unique Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires cover the 19 x 11-in. front and 19 x 15-in. rear wheels.

All of the panels forward of the A-pillars are unique to the GT350R, as are the revised front splitter and carbon fiber rear wing.  To reduce front lift and aid heat extraction, the hood is now vented, and slopes forward more aggressively. There are front and rear belly pans, a rear diffuser, vents in the wheel wells and Corvette-like front fender vents that are said to reduce turbulence.

Had the show stopped there, it would have been enough, but readers of this site knew there was more to come.  And it did, once the curtain had come down, and the lights dimmed even more. That’s when the new GT rolled out onto the stage, its next-generation 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 revving as it came to a stop. This engine has a combination of port and direct fuel injection, and should clear up the carbon deposit problems to which direct-injected EcoBoost engines are prone.

In the brief presentation we discovered that the car is built around a carbon fiber monocoque, has front and rear aluminum subframes, an engine with more than 600 horsepower mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, carbon fiber body panels, torsion bar and pushrod suspension front and rear with adjustable ride height, carbon-ceramic brakes, and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires on 20-in. rims. In addition, the doors swing upward like those on a McLaren or Lamborghini, and the seats are fixed in place as they were on the original Ford GT40 to save weight.

The steering column and pedals are adjustable. Also, the instrument cluster is digital and reconfigurable, and the control stalks normally found on the steering column have been removed, and their functions transferred to the “F1 style” steering wheel.

Personally, the GT — though sleek and futuristic — pays too much homage to the GT40 up front, falls into the trap of mimicking the front wings of F1 cars in the grille insert/splitter combination, and has overly fussy detailing in the rear. That said, it’s a striking vehicle that should look spectacular on the road, especially on the lanes in and around Le Mans, France in June of 2016. Expect the Ford GT to start at or above $250,000, with total output limited to less than 1,000 units.

As it is with so many other auto shows, the vehicles shown at the 2015 NAIAS made many promises, but showed little promise. Hyper performance was the name of the game on many stands, while others attempted to polish their eco credentials or feign relevance. Buick quietly surprised with its sleek Avenir, but it was one of too few unexpected reveals in a sea of pre-digested previews.

Once the thumping beat played at ear-bleed levels had died down, and the cleanup crews were left to sweep up the confetti, a sad truth began to descend on Cobo Hall. There is very little that is new in the auto industry, and much of its technology is being driven by increasingly draconian government regulation.

Performance is having its golden age thanks to the electronic revolution, but how long will it be before politicians and bureaucrats decide that the “greater good” demands this must come to an end? Until that happens, automakers will continue to chase after whitespace — both real and imagined.