Detroit is the spiritual home of the US car industry but since the latter’s most recent crisis, the city’s annual car fest - The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) - has lacked a little swagger. Thankfully 2011 is a different story, with renewed optimism on display, indicating a turning point towards better times.
Two extreme recessionary years featuring the high profile bankruptcies and subsequent drastic restructuring of GM and Chrysler has restricted or at least delayed future product planning - and there was a notable dearth of far-sighted concepts at the January 2011 show.
Nonetheless, the number of exhibitors and visitors were both up, suggesting that the home of the muscle car and pick-up truck still has life in it yet.
BMW 6 Series Convertible
BMW 1 Series M Coupe
This M-suited and booted version of the regular coupe is good for 340hp, 0-62mph in under five seconds and a top-end speed of 155mph. Wheel arches have been widened, wheels pumped up to 19 inches and exhaust pipes chromed. Inside, black leather with contrast orange stitching completes the ‘pocket rocket’ sports look, with prices from a fraction under £40,000 when the car goes on sale in May.
Put aside your preconceptions about the mainstream, because the new Ford Vertrek concept was, for many design experts, the star of the Detroit show. The conceptual but less than far-fetched vehicle will become - with only small changes - the next global compact crossover car to replace both the European Kuga and US Escape models from 2012. Great everyman design.
Evidence of another brand that’s upped its game beyond all expectations in the last five years, Hyundai brought to Detroit both a bold new compact crossover concept and a smart production coupe. The Curb is the South Korean brand’s vision of a future Nissan Qashqai rival. It won’t look as butterfly-doored and sparse of interior when it makes production, but nonetheless, this is a strong statement of intent.
Proof that Hyundai does deliver on its concept promises, is the 2011 Veloster production car based on the 2007 concept of the same name. Keeping pretty faithful to that concept, the new coupe also has an extra and very unusual asymmetric USP featuring two doors on the passenger side for easier access but only one on the driver’s side. And unlike the Mini Clubman’s fixed doors, the brand is going to swap the configuration around to work with right-hand drive markets like the UK and Australia too. Good work.
The KV7 celebrates the box’, Kia US chief designer Tom Kearns declared at its Detroit unveil. ‘It’s a simple form, and perfectly efficient for moving a lot of people’. One of the show’s stars, the Kia KV7 references the functional boxcar cool of the Ford Flex and second generation Nissan Cube, but still manages its own fresh angle. Kia’s concept is more fluid and features a lounge-style interior with reclaimed teak flooring, four swivel seats, plus an asymmetric three-seat rear mini-lounge with a fold-down tabletop touch-screen computer display. Kia suggests the KV7 is a mobile hub from which social networking ‘ringleaders’ can plan their next manoeuvre.
Showing automotive sculpture among a sea of production and concept cars is a sure-fire way to stand out. The famous three-pointed star brand made its first installation at 2010’s Detroit auto show, and the idea went down so well, the brand repeated the move in 2011. This year the theme was interiors-focused but the sculpture, entitled ‘Mercedes Aesthetics No.2’, is still very dramatic, from its organic bone-like exterior to its floating and curvaceous instrument panel, punctuated by aviation-inspired air vents. Built to 1:5 scale, the oversized form makes a big artistic impact and also gives strong clues as to what the insides of Mercedes’ new VW Golf-challenging small vehicle family will look like.
Another brand extension for the small car brand as it ventures ever deeper into big car territory. With two- and four-wheel drive options, the pumped-up Paceman two-door SUV / Coupe concept is strongly-tipped for production, probably to take on the forthcoming shrink-wrapped Range Rover Evoque. Although chunky and large - for a Mini - the Paceman seems to have made the expansion upwards more successfully than the recent Countryman and features smarter new horizontal rear lights as well.
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to give anyone a lift in this mid-engined hybrid concept technology test bed. That’s because the passenger seat has been swapped out for a flywheel accumulator that stores spare energy from vehicle braking. Still, this beautiful mix of 918 Spyder car concept (first seen at the 2010 Geneva show) and 911 GT3 R Hybrid racecar, complete with a super stiff carbon fibre-reinforced plastic body, scissor doors and natty silver and orange paint job, will at least enable more highly efficient real-world racing in the near future.
The Prius for younger, less eco-smug and sportier drivers, the Prius C updates last year’s FT-CH concept. New for 2011 are more production-feasible lamps, less dotty side vents, an extra slim upper grille addition, a new body-coloured splitter lip detail, plus new wheels. Design-savvy green-leaners will hope the hybrid production version on sale in the US from 2012 will keep this concept’s cool features while offering more space than the Honda CR-Z.
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