By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(January 26, 2014) If there was one thing for which to be thankful, it was that the “Polar Vortex” which swept sub-zero temperatures and snow through Michigan the week before had briefly left town. It was replaced by temperatures in the 30s and sunshine, a welcome change from the frigid overcast just days earlier.

Chevrolet swept the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards with the Stingray and Silverado, and new GM CEO Mary Barra was on display. Some journalists who, under different circumstances would scold their counterparts that auto company CEOs should be picked based on ability and not gender, were absolutely gushing over her ascension. The fact that Barra was a woman, not that she could do the job better than any other candidate, seemed to be the most important fact in this Detroit soap opera. Not surprisingly, their blather often was accompanied by three words found in the original advertising for Chevy’s Chevette: “It’s about time.”

Yet these gender pimps were either blissfully unaware or willfully ignorant of their earlier rebuke that auto company CEOs should, to paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, “be judged by the content of their character, not the makeup of their chromosomes.”

Away from the operatic politics, the cars and trucks spoke for themselves. Unfortunately, not all were worth listening to. So rather than blindly list all of the vehicles that debuted at the 2014 North American International Auto Show, I’ve chosen a few of the most important vehicles and segments. Enjoy.

Trucks

Despite an eternally recovering (but never recovered) economy, historically high gas prices and tightening Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, the U.S. truck Market is strong and getting stronger. Chevrolet’s Silverado took the North American Truck of the Year award, while the Ram pickup took the first back-to-back award from the editors at Motor Trend. The big news out of Detroit, however, was the introduction of the 2015 Ford F-150, the first aluminum-bodied pickup in U.S. history.

2015 Ford F-150

Years in development, but still a bit of a gamble.

Ford has been studying aluminum construction for about 20 years, and gained a lot of practical knowledge with the XJ6 when Jaguar was part of its now-defunct Premium Automotive Group. One of the most important lessons learned was the need for volume to get aluminum sheet suppliers onboard, and keep the cost of the material in check. Switching a luxury model to the non-ferrous metal or building a sports car out of it wouldn’t do enough to lower the cost of the material.

Ford had to think big if it was going to get aluminum suppliers to offer the alloys it needed in volumes high enough to bring its cost down to near parity with the highest grades of steel currently available. And thinking big meant the F-150.



With sales in the 2013 calendar year exceeding 700,000 units, the F-150 is Ford’s highest selling vehicle, and has been for decades. Its sales are nearly three times that of the best-selling passenger car in Ford’s fleet, and required that the aluminum industry build two new state-of-the-art production facilities to meet the demand. That, however, was the easy part.

Early on engineers had to prove that an aluminum F-150 would meet both Ford and customer requirements. So they built a number of F-150s in 2009 from aluminum, and ran them through the same battery of tests as the production steel version. They passed. Ford even built a 2015 F-150 off-road race truck, disguised it by fitting current bodywork, and ran it in the Baja 1,000. That’s in addition to the 10 million miles of testing Ford claims to have completed with the new pickup. It’s not leaving anything to chance.

The biggest hurdle Ford may have yet to overcome, however, is buyer expectation. Say “aluminum” to a cross-section of them, and the first thing that comes to mind is “crushed beer can”. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially considering the alloys Ford is using. In fact, just the opposite is often the case as aluminum has a high dent and ding resistance, but gets work hardened in an accident.

Aluminum’s granular structure doesn’t like to move or be moved. It also takes special hammers and dollies to repair dents as steel tools would imbed particles in the surface of the aluminum, setting off a galvanic response that would cause the alloy to corrode. Currently, if the damage is great enough, collision repair shops replace aluminum closure panels (hoods, deck lids and doors) with new items after an accident. Those panels, Ford claims, will be recycled directly into new panels, while special repair procedures will be rolled out to dealers and collision shops. The F-150 is just the start of the aluminum revolution at Ford.

Marry this body with a new, lighter weight, high-strength, fully steel boxed frame and — in some instances — the 2015 F-150 is a meaningful 700 lb. lighter than its predecessor. What Ford has yet to talk about in any detail, however, is that this combination also means it will have a higher payload capacity as the truck is not only lighter but stronger.

That is, it can carry more stuff because it doesn’t have to haul as much of itself around. Further, the engine lineup remains the same — 3.7-liter V6, 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6, 5.0-liter V8 and 6.2-liter V8 — except for the addition of a 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6 with stop/start technology.

A premium motor, it will offer the power of the naturally aspirated V6 along with increased fuel economy. Waiting in the wings is a new automatic transmission with more speeds that will bring the alloy F-150 to 30 mpg highway, and the possibility of using a high-torque version of the 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine from the 2015 Mustang to raise this number even higher. Ford execs are adamant that, now that the F-150 is CAFE positive instead of negative, they will work to keep the full-size pickup at the sharp end of the fuel economy roster. Should the buyer demand it, that also could mean the addition of a diesel powertrain, and possibly a hybrid.

GMC Canyon

Call it a compact full size.

There’s another way to make a CAFE play, and that’s to build and sell a conventional (i.e. steel) pickup that is less than full-sized, offers either a short (5’2”) or long (6’2”) cargo bed and Crew or Extended cabs, and comes with your choice of either a 2.5-liter inline four or 3.5-liter V6 mated to a six-speed transmission. That’s what GM did, first with the Chevy Colorado, and now with the GMC Canyon. (A 2.8-liter Duramax turbo diesel joins the engine lineup in 2016 for those wanting more fuel economy and torque.)

The idea here is to offer those folks who don’t want or have the need for a full-size pickup an alternative that is more fuel efficient, has a payload capacity of just under 1,500 lb., and the ability to tow at least 6,700 lb. The problem with this is that it places the Canyon in competition with the lower end of the full-size GMC Sierra lineup, and — unless there is a significant difference in price and equipment — the Sierra will win out with buyers who want more vehicle for the money. It’s the reason Ford didn’t bring the so-called global Ranger pickup to the U.S.

However, GMC (and by extension Chevy) has a big advantage the midsize Dodge Dakota didn’t; the Canyon’s costs are shared globally. This is GM’s world pickup. The U.S. versions are not the volume versions of this platform, and don’t have to carry the bulk of the cost of this program. U.S. sales volumes are nearly irrelevant. Unfortunately, what the market really could use right now is a modern compact pickup that is rugged, fuel-efficient, inexpensive to own and operate, easy to personalize, and flexible in order to capture the interest of younger buyers, as well as those who want the capability of a pickup, but not its bulk. It’s uncertain this market needs, or wants, another midsize pickup from a full-size pickup maker.

Volkswagen Dune

I’m sorry. Was I supposed to be paying attention?

What does this Beetle-based soft roader have to do with the trucks on display at the show? Nothing other than to show how out of touch the folks back in Germany are with the needs and desires of the American car buyer. Jacking up the ride height of a Beetle, fitting bigger wheels and tires, adding a body kit, and clamping two pair of skis to the back is the answer to a question nobody asked. Sitting next to the forward-looking, 1.4-liter turbocharged Passat BlueMotion Concept, the Dune was an embarrassment. Without even the hint of all-wheel drive, it offered no more winter performance than a regular Beetle would get from good winter tires.



Volkswagen has a perfectly good midsize pickup, the Amarok, that it currently builds in Argentina. Powered by a brace of turbo diesel four-cylinder engines, it would be a good fit with VW’s ambitions to sell 800,000 vehicles per year in the U.S. by 2018. Unfortunately, capacity at the plant is limited to less than 100,000 units per year, the Amarok (pictured below) is a unique platform produced by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and, as an import, it would be subject to the so-called “chicken tax” that has blighted U.S. foreign policy since 1963.

This 25% tariff — originally placed on imports of potato starch, dextrin and brandy — was expanded to include light trucks. Ironically, UAW chief Walter Reuther wanted to stem the importation of Volkswagen vans and light trucks, and demanded the expansion of the tariff as a quid pro quo for his support of President Johnson’s reelection. Though the tariff was dropped on the other items, it was never lifted from imports of light trucks, having been shifted to keep the Japanese at bay. (It didn’t work.) Now it’s once again keeping VW from bringing trucks to the U.S.

While waiting for Congress to repeal the Chicken Tax (Ha!) or add Argentina to NAFTA (more likely), VW could make the same end run around the tax as the Japanese did, and send it in large pieces for final assembly here. It might even improve the build quality, which has shown one or two notable lapses. VW also might want to investigate building unibody pickups off the MQB platform for sale in the U.S. In fact, VW could preview it as a line extension of the Beetle. Silly or not, that concept would be many times more innovative and exciting than the dubious Dune.

Crossover and Coupes

You’d think the fact that fewer than five percent of buyers ever take their SUVs off road would signal an end to this market segment. Think again. More automakers, especially the luxury brands, are creating new crossover entries by the minute.

There seems to be no limit as to how small a crossover can be, a point proven by Audi’s new Q3 and Buick’s successful Encore. Lincoln announced aggressive pricing for the MKC, Jaguar brought its gorgeous CX-17 soft roader to the show, and Mercedes launched the GLA 45 AMG. Yet it was the concepts from Audi and Volvo that hinted at a potential new direction for vehicles in this space.

Volvo Concept XC Coupé

Exciting styling, exciting package. Are you sure this is a Volvo?

Volvo’s second of three new concepts (the Volvo Concept Coupé was the first) ports the company’s new design language to a sport utility shape. It’s expected that this active lifestyle concept is a precursor to the next-generation four-door XC90, though it may signal an addition to the Volvo off-road lineup.

Both the XC Coupé and XC90 are built around Volvo’s Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) that can be lengthened and widened to the point where this construction will underpin all future Volvos, from the largest to the smallest. Forty percent of the structure is made from high-strength, hot-formed steel. Further, the SPA features an electrical architecture that is divided into four domains (vehicle dynamics, safety, car body, infotainment) that can be connected to every unit in the electrical system. Volvo likens this to a nervous system, and claims it gives its engineers the ability to easily add new functions and technologies on an almost plug-and-play basis.

Unlike the four-door XC90, the XC Coupé does away with the rear doors, and fits individual seats in the rear of the cabin. The concept has ample rear leg room, but is designed for buyers looking for more sportiness, style and performance than your typical four-door SUV can offer. If a business case can be made, say Volvo insiders, the XC Coupé will trail the new XC90 into production by approximately 24 months.

Audi Allroad Sportback Concept

Helping style survive growing responsibility

A preview of the next TT or a first look at a potential addition to the TT family? That’s the question Audi executives didn’t want to answer, and for good reason. This isn’t the first SUV-like coupe the German automaker has previewed, but it is the first so closely tied to an existing car line. Audi’s 2+2 TT is the style leader at the lower end of Audi’s lineup, and has potential for much greater sales.

Over the years, customers have complained about the lack of rear seat headroom and carrying capacity, two things the Sportback’s longer roofline immediately fix. It seems buyers are often forced to sell their beloved TTs when they have to haul more things and people, especially children for the morning school run. Fitting a child seat to the rear of a TT Coupe is an exercise in futility, one that is greatly reduced by extending the roofline.

Though the market for coupes has softened over the past two decades, marketing types see signs of a resurgence in their popularity. With the growth of the SUV and crossover market continuing unabated, adding a stylish two-door with even minor off-road pretensions combines style, individuality and practicality in a single package. And while the Allroad Sportback features an all-wheel drive powertrain that places an electric motor on both the front and rear axles to create a plug-in e-tron quattro, you can expect the production version, should it be made, to use the TT’s more conventional quattro drivetrain.

Cars

Though the truck segment continues to surge, cars are where some of the fiercest battles take place. Honda brought the new Fit to Detroit, combined the Acura TSX and TL into a single new entry called the TLX, and — thankfully — didn’t show yet another take on the NSX. Over at BMW, the 2 and 4 Series made their U.S. debuts, joined by the i3 and i8. Mercedes showed the new C-Class ( a car that is taking friendly fire from the entry-level CLA), the twin-turbo V12-powered S600 sedan, as well as an S-Class Coupe.

Hyundai pulled the wraps off the latest Genesis sedan, pictured at left, while sister division Kia launched its mechanically similar K900 sedan at the other end of Cobo Hall. Porsche introduced the new 911 Targa, which features an insanely complex powered roof mechanism of the type only German engineers could create. Almost lost in the hoopla was the U.S. debut of the bulky new Mini, and — oddly enough — Ford’s Mustang, though it was amply represented on Ford’s stand.

Cadillac rolled out the ATS Coupe, a vehicle that no one should be allowed to order in white, while VW showed the new Golf on the same day it production began at its Puebla, Mexico, plant. Finally, Chevrolet introduced the Corvette Z06 in one of the most pedantic live action, drive-through-the-streets-and-up-on-the-stage reveals ever. Nevertheless, a few vehicles stood out from the crowd.

Chrysler 200

Handsomely conservative, and keenly priced.

Chrysler referred to the 200 as the company’s new flagship, conveniently ignoring the presence of the rear-drive sedan that sits 100 numbers above it. Built on the Compact US Wide architecture that underpins the Dodge Dart and launched underneath the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, the Chrysler 200 wades into the fiercely competitive midsize sedan market.

There it must battle with the likes of the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Nissan Altima, Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata, Kia Optima, VW Passat, and more. The current 200 has stayed competitive by means of a thorough refresh just over two years ago, and aggressive pricing. While that’s enough to keep Chrysler in the game, it’s not enough to keep the brand healthy.



Ripping a page out of Kia’s playbook, the Chrysler 200 emphasizes luxury and style, while breaking out from the clutter with a surprising base price for the LX model: $21,700; $95 less than the lowest-priced version of the outgoing 200. This rises to $23,255 for the 200 Limited, $24,495 for the 200S, and $25,995 for the 200C. All versions come standard with the 184 hp/173 lb-ft 2.4-liter Tigershark four-cylinder engine. It drives the front wheels through a nine-speed automatic transmission.

Chrysler claims the combination is good for 35 mpg highway on the EPA test. Both the 200S and 200C offer the option of replacing this engine with the 295 hp/262 lb-ft, seven percent more fuel efficient, 3.5-liter Pentastar V6. Those V6 buyers also can add an all-wheel drive system that disconnects drive to the rear wheels when not needed, in order to reduce parasitic losses and increase fuel economy. On the minus side, you might want to steer away from the 200C’s dual-pane panoramic sunroof if you carry tall folks in the back seat. My head lightly rubbed the headliner of the non-sunroof model on the show floor, and — like many sedans with a fast roofline — ingress and egress required ducking down to clear the roof rail.

The front cabin, on the other hand, is roomy, comfortable and — in the higher line models — surprisingly luxurious. The sporty 200S features standard paddle shifters that supplement the electronic rotary gear selector mounted on the two-level center console, steering wheel-mounted audio controls, cloth seats with leather trim, an eight-way power driver’s seat, acoustic windshield glass, and the Uconnect 5.0 infotainment system. To this the 200C adds a seven-inch full-color electronic instrument cluster, rear backup camera, Nappa leather-covered heated front seats, remote start, a six-way power passenger seat, dual-zone automatic climate control and more.

As you might expect, there are seven option packages available, which include everything from upgraded audio systems to navigation, HID headlamps, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, parallel and perpendicular park assist, forward collision warning and rain-sensitive windshield wipers.

This is an important car for Chrysler. With the Dart being cannibalized by the fading Avenger, and Chrysler swearing it will have no overlap between divisions, the 200 appears to be the company’s only sedan entry in the midsize segment. With keen pricing, up-to-date technology, a comfortable and visually pleasing interior, limited but well-packaged option groups, and a highly robotized assembly plant upgraded at the cost of nearly $1 billion, Chrysler has a good shot of becoming a solid player. Chrysler’s future depends on the 200 being a success.

Toyota FT-1

Much like Las Vegas, there’s no “there” there.

Forget about this being a representation of a coming Toyota sports car. It’s not. In fact, it’s not even a real car. That engine you see peeking out from the clear panel on the hood? It’s a stylized depiction of an engine cover that leaves it to the viewer’s imagination to decide what’s underneath. The interior is real. You can sit in it, the instruments light up and the numbers change, but they’re not connected to anything other than the processors that make them work and the wiring that sends the signals back and forth. Even the proportions of this 2+2 are speculative. It is the epitome of vaporware.

The point of this exercise is to establish a new styling direction for Toyota. One that is more exciting and passionate than that used on the vehicles it builds today. It is a statement piece that draws from the 2000GT, Celica, Supra and Scion FR-S, as well as the 2007 Toyota FT-HS and 2012 Lexus LF-LC concepts. It was created by designers at the Calty Design Research facility in California. According to Alex Shen, Calty’s Studio Chief Designer. “It’s an aggressive, track-focused sports car concept with a presence that has been amplified for shock and awe.”

To pitch the design to senior management, Calty worked with Polyphony Digital to put the FT-1 inside a virtual world where the executives could take it around a digitized Fuji Speedway. Toyota president (and avid racer) Akio Toyoda reportedly completed his lap more quickly than his best time around the real circuit in his very real Lexus LFA. Suitably impressed, he approved the concept’s creation in model form for display at the Detroit show. Strange but true. And to think, a virtual Prius with the same dynamic parameters would have lapped about as fast. I wonder what Mr. Toyoda would have thought of that.

Kia GT4 Stinger

Yes, maybe… sort of.

Speaking of vaporware, Kia’s GT4 Stinger is almost as fanciful as Toyota's FT-1. Impossibly low, and with more than a hint of Lamborghini’s classic Miura in the rear deck shape, the GT4 is meant show how a future 2+2 Kia sports car might look.

The GT4 Stinger is powered by a 315 hp turbocharged 2.0-liter inline four sending its power through a six-speed manual transmission to the rear wheels, and the suspension is fully independent. Should it be approved for production, undoubtedly some of the exterior and interior shapes from the concept will be used. However, any production vehicle that follows will be taller, won’t have the honeycomb see-through A-pillars, the bumpers will be much more pronounced, and the nose and headlights won’t be as low to the ground.

Kia claims that there are no plans to produce such a car, and Hyundai’s cancellation of the Genesis Coupe at the end of the 2013 model year would suggest there is no platform on which to build the Stinger at the moment. However, rumors abound that Hyundai will use the new Genesis Sedan’s platform to take the Coupe’s replacement upmarket. There it will do battle with cars like the Infiniti Q60 coupe and convertible. Kia, on the other hand, will modify the platform and take aim at cars like the Scion FR-S and the four-cylinder EcoBoost Mustang.

Nissan Sport Sedan Concept

The Ken Kesey edition 2016 Maxima.

The first thing you should know about this car is that the Maxima which it previews won’t be as radically styled. It will, however, have a 300 hp 3.5-liter V6 under hood driving the front wheels through a CVT automatic transmission. Based on the Altima, that car will have the blacked-out pillars, “floating” roof, boomerang-shaped headlights and taillights, and side sculpturing seen on the concept. The main difference is that it will be toned down and not covered in as, er, expressive a paint color.

And though it will be available with a panoramic sunroof, the roof glass on the new Maxima probably won’t sweep uninterrupted from the windshield to the rear window, as it does on the concept. You also can expect the raised trunk center and the thick chrome trim between the taillights to make the cut, but the under bumper area will be much cleaner and less exuberantly styled.

If there was an overriding theme to the 2014 Detroit show, it was that automakers will do whatever they must to keep the highly profitable truck, SUV and crossover gravy train rolling. Despite the increase in the number of sports car concepts, the bulk of the new vehicles on show fell into the truck, SUV or crossover category. This is where the market is, and where it will continue to head, especially in the luxury sphere.

High dollar cars are a target for every “Occupy Wall Street” miscreant or sympathizer, while those vehicles with a wagon-like roofline, higher ride height and the option of all-wheel drive for some reason do not garner the same opprobrium — even though they cost the same or more. They have more of an “everyman’s” aura about them. As long as this holds, and no one introduces a car with the style, cachet or substance to change minds, this trend will continue.

The Virtual Driver