BY JARED GALL, PHOTOGRAPHY BY PATRICK M. HOEY AND JORDAN BROWN
January 2010
www.caranddriver.com
As we wave goodbye a year that saw overall sales volumes plummet to sad fractions of the glory days and two of the Big Three go bankrupt, it’s safe to say that these are desperate times for the automobile industry. Desperation can inspire great innovation, or it can inspire half-hearted scrabbles for attention and relevance that would be better left on the drawing board. Below, a look at the most inspired and most half-baked debuts from the Detroit auto show.
Audi E-Tron Concept
Audi introduced an e-tron concept at the 2009 Frankfurt auto show, but—despite the name being identical—this is not the same car. It’s smaller and lighter than the first e-tron, which has been confirmed for production, and Audi says that it might also sell this one, as it hopes to build e-tron into a brand like Quattro or S-line. We don’t care if it’s electric or gets pulled by a dying donkey, we’d be happy to drive anything this beautiful.
2011 BMW 740i / 740Li
In this day of downsizing, BMW has found a pairing we think we can live with, combining its excellent 7-series flagship and twin-turbo, 3.0-liter inline-six making 315 horsepower in this application. The six is our engine of choice in the smaller 5-series, and we’re betting it will prove just as competent in the 7. The big sedan should still feel plenty powerful, but now with a smaller carbon footprint. That’s inspired thinking.
GMC Granite Concept
Even though its recent forays into the crossover kingdom have diluted the brutish impression of a fully body-on-frame lineup, GMC remains a truck company at heart. But if the market continues in its current direction, odds are very good that we end up in a small world after all. About the size of a Honda Fit but still appropriately trucky-looking, the Granite concept is the first indication we’ve seen that GMC wouldn’t lose itself in a car-centric world. We think GMC should jump in with both feet and build it.
2011 Lincoln MKX
The Lincoln MKX is not high on our list of the most desirable cars, not even with its new nose job and booty tuck. But slide behind the wheel and gaze around the cabin, and you’ll find it’s a lovely place to pass the miles. The interior isn’t just high on style—it’s innovative, too, with capacitive-touch controls and the new version of Ford’s Sync vehicle-interface system. But the interior design belies a verve we didn’t think still existed at Lincoln.
2011 Mercedes-Benz CLS-class Preview
We and our colleagues in the auto industry have long been champions of the oft-overlooked opinion that cars can be art, but rarely does a manufacturer so clearly express that belief. Not only is Mercedes-Benz’s sculpture previewing the look of the next CLS lovely, but it also saves the company from the possible embarrassment of having a concept that overshadows the beauty of the eventual production car.
Volkswagen NCC Concept
Inspiration can come from the most unlikely sources and manifest in the most obvious ways. Volkswagen has told us that the next Jetta will be smaller to more directly compete with cars like the Honda Civic, so it’s a no-brainer to tease a Jetta coupe. Although Volkswagen reps are adamant that this is just a concept, many in the compact-car arena boast two- and four-door derivatives. That VW’s could look like a three-quarter-scale Audi A5 is not a bad thing.
Chrysler Delta Concept
Without inspiration, you’re just going through the motions. Even when completely faking it, car companies and their representatives tend to bloviate as though their newest wares are the second coming of the Model T. But when we asked a Chrysler spokesperson about this concept, a European-market Lancia Delta with a Chrysler grille, he said, “It’s a Lancia with a Chrysler grille.” He then directed us to Lancia’s press site for more information on the Delta. No thanks.
Pretty Much Everything Chrysler Did
While we’re on the topic of Chrysler, let’s review its other crimes at this year’s Detroit show. The 300 pirated a couple of names from Audi while the PT Cruiser lied and called a red leather interior couture. Dodge, meanwhile, did away with its existing trim-level hierarchy and replaced it with either a first-grader’s spelling test or a list scavenged from the garbage can after an Arena Football team-naming brainstorm, including Heat, Hero, Rush, and Shock. By comparison, Jeep’s feeble effort—a trio of sticker-based special editions—seems almost exciting.
Chinese Junk
In China, a junk is a sailboat; but in the U.S., junk is mostly what populates the auto-show stands of Chinese automakers. Every passing year brings us greater promises from the Chinese car industry—including BYD’s claim this year that it will be the number-one automaker in the world by 2024. And every passing year reinforces our belief that the Chinese invasion of the U.S. auto market is still some ways off. It’s going to happen eventually, we know, but not this year. Probably not the next, either.
Electric Avenue Junk
The gravest error at the show might have been the christening of the electric-vehicle area as “Electric Avenue.” For two straight days, we all walked around with “we gonna rock down to electric avenue” looping in our heads. And most of the vehicles in the Electric Avenue display show all the production feasibility of a self-resurrecting house cat.
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