NORTH AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL AUTO SHOW 1998

DETROIT SHOW

NORTH AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL AUTO SHOW 1998

by Gerry Frechette

In the world of cars, there are several auto shows that have their own unique appeal. Tokyo. Frankfurt. Geneva. And now, one must add Detroit.

This troubled but optimistic city is about the last place you’d want to be in the dead of winter, except for the first week of January. Because that is when all the new cars, and some that might some day see a showroom floor, hit the Motor City for what has quickly become one of the top three Auto Shows in the World.

Not as big as Frankfurt, not as far out technologically as Tokyo, not as classy as Geneva, but Detroit is now officially The Big $how in the world’s largest market for cars.

Each year, one new production model steals center stage, as the manufacturers jockey for the attention of the thousands of assembled media from all over the world. This year, it was the Volkswagen Beetle.

Four years ago, VW showed the Concept One at Detroit, and it was meant to be a fanciful dream car, just something cutely retro to smile at. But, trouble was, lots of people told VW that they liked it, and that they should build it. The seed was planted, here we are in ’98, and your local dealer is taking orders for it.

The unveiling was the Big Event of the Show, despite everyone knowing what it looked like beforehand. Yes, it is undeniably cute and charming, just like the old one was, and it has the reliability and performance of a modern Golf, upon which it is based. No, it isn’t exceedingly practical, with little room behind the front two seats for people or luggage. But, hey, no one who lusts after one will care. It will be the car to be seen in this year.

If you go back in time about a half century, the original Beetle spawned a sportier car with the same general architecture - the Porsche. While the new Beetle owes only its style to the original, the new Porsche 911 unveiled at Detroit owes everything to its ancestors.

While it is still rear-engined like all true Porsches have always been, and with the unmistakable 911 shape, the new one, actually the 996 in Stuttgart-speak, has become a very modern car. It’s now water cooled, for one thing. And it has a contemporary dashboard, too. But the soul of the car remains. The Beetle might have stolen the show, but the 911 quietly reserved a place in the hearts of all the enthusiasts at Detroit.

The exciting performance cars are really rolling out of Germany these days, and BMW showed the latest version of the Z3, the M Roadster. While those lucky Europeans will get the unfettered version with 320-something horses, we North Americans will have to make do with a mere 240 from the slightly detuned, but still abundantly torquey, straight six crammed under its hood. Of course, the running gear is upgraded to match the horsepower, and all of a sudden, the original Z3 that James Bond had such fun in looks a bit tame. This one should satisfy us power-oversteer addicts.

Power is the name of the game at Mercedes-Benz for ‘98, too. They call it the year of the V8, and they seem to be equipping everything they make with one, except for the SLK. The CLK, just introduced with a nice V6, gets the 4.3 litre engine and the full AMG treatment, making for a supercoupe. And the little C-Class sedan, upon which the nice C36 was based a couple of years ago, also gets the big engine, making it the C43. Speaking of the SLK roadster, it is to get the manual transmission everyone has been shouting for.

We don’t know where this orgy of performance cars is going to stop, but we don’t think it’ll be Germany.

It stopped in Japan a couple of years ago, though, and now they are in a kind-of in-between mode, as they retool for the next wave of sports cars due to appear within the next year or two.

But through all this change, there is a constant, the Mazda Miata. Before all the new models come out, Mazda has unveiled the first re-do of the Miata since it was introduced at the beginning of the ’90’s. The casual observer might ask, so what’s new about it? They haven’t exactly strayed from the successful formula. Just a little more power, more attractive front and back ends, a little more room. Soon, it will have competition.

On the domestic front, there was precious little to stir the souls of enthusiasts, nothing like the new Corvette or Prowler of the last two years. The Mercury Cougar stood out, though. Based on the Ford Contour platform, the new sport coupe is all wild creases and angles, Ford’s "New Edge" design philosophy that is sweeping Europe right now. Those who lamented the passing of the Probe haven’t had to wait long for its successor; the Cougar will send GM and Chrysler scurrying to put out coupes that can compete with it.

And we have to mention the Chrysler 300M, the shorter, upscale performance version of the new Intrepid/Concorde. They intend to sell this car in Europe and other overseas markets, and it is just as sleek and rakish as its siblings. It will perhaps be the big American sedan of most interest to enthusiasts.

If Detroit ’98 was a little slow in terms of new production cars, the concept cars came thick and fast. There were 34 worldwide debuts and 11 North American ones; every manufacturer, it seemed, had something weird or wonderful on their stand that gave a sneak peak at the future.

Some were truly conceptual in technology or approach, while others were clearly the final version of what we’ll see in the showroom within a year.

There were significant unveilings in terms of sales popularity and/or Canadian content, if not fun-to-drive quotient. The new General Motors pickups were shown in much the form they will take when they roll off the Oshawa, ON assembly line soon, while Honda showed the MV-99 minivan they will build in Alliston, ON.

Chrysler has become the company of which the most is expected in terms of concept cars, and they didn’t let us down at Detroit this year. Last year, they showed the Copperhead, a big front-engined V6 in the Austin-Healey - and BMW Z3 - mold. This year, it was the Plymouth Pronto Spyder, a mid-engine roadster much like the Porsche Boxster. Enthusiasts can be fairly certain that one of them will see the market by 2000; either should cost much less than their German competition if they do.

As has become their habit, Chrysler also showed a concept car that evoked images of the classics of the past. This year, it was the Chronos prestige sedan, looking like the Italian-designed show cars of the ’50’s. Powered by a 6-litre V10 derived from the new 4.7-litre V8 Chrysler is introducing this year, this one would seem to be a possibility for production as the corporate flagship. Or so Chrysler officials are reported to have hinted. It certainly has that undefinable "presence." We’ll believe it when we see it, but if we see it, they will have one-upped the domestic industry, again.

It’s not often we see a concept car from a low-volume manufacturer like Aston-Martin, but at Detroit, they showed the Project Vantage, likely to be the next evolution in A-M production cars, as parent Ford seeks to move the brand up-market into the supercar stratosphere. It has traditional front-engined architecture, and said engine is the 6-litre V12 (siamesed 3-litre Duratech V6’s) that first saw use in the weird Indigo show car a couple of years back. Should be good enough for 200 mph, they claim. It’s probably too potent to ever be seen on this side of the pond, we figure.

Sport utilities are still, perhaps unfortunately depending upon your viewpoint, all the rage in the North American market, and all manner of them were on display in Cobo Hall. From the point of view of performance enthusiasts, the SUV situation is improving, with new car-based and hybrid units coming on the market.

Subaru and Volvo have done well with their car-based SUV’s, and now it appears that Audi is set to join them, as they showed their Allroad Quattro. Based on the yet-to-be-introduced A6 Avant (station wagon), the Allroad is a very appealing approach and it should do well with people looking to get out of their bulky, thirsty truck-based units. Audi says that the concept could be "the next logical step" in its "unSUV" strategy, that is, offering cars with sport-utility capability.

On the technological front, environment-friendly alternate power sources are moving quickly to the point where we should see more and more on the road. Already, there are electrics, and while their battery systems are being improved enough to double their range, there are much more interesting approaches being taken.

Catching our eye was the Dodge ESX2, which combines materials technology with a hybrid powertrain. The big factor driving the feasibility of these vehicles for production is their cost, and the ESX2 reduces the cost penalty per vehicle down to about $US 15,000 over a comparable conventional car.

Its body is made from thermoplastic polyester, same as plastic beverage bottles. The main structure weighs 50% less than a comparable steel body. And the powertrain is a small direct-injection diesel with an auxiliary electric motor for extra power in passing situations, for example. Fuel economy is claimed to be over 70 miles per US gallon. Once technology allows for cleaner running diesels, and costs can be reduced further, such a car could become a reality.

General Motors, too, is looking at all sorts of technology, and their parallel hybrid electric is being billed as a performance car. Based on the existing EV1 electric car, it adds a 1.3 litre, 3-cylinder turbo diesel engine to drive the rear wheels, with the existing electric motor remaining up front to drive those wheels. The engine also powers a small generator unit, the main benefit of which is to recharge the electric battery packs.

Obviously, its multi-mode capability is its strong point. It can be run as a pure electric with on-board charging when needed, or as a four-wheel drive performance car with 219 horsepower from its three power sources. Zero-to-sixty mph is achieved in seven seconds, according to GM.

An environmentally responsible performance car - the concept is perhaps not so impossible.

Of course, the internal combustion engine is far from dead as a propulsion source. Among others, Honda is working on engines that emit virtually no pollution. The technology battle will really heat up as the new century arrives. In ten years, the car might be a very different animal.

That was just a sampling of the Big Show at Detroit. It’s a very interesting time to be a car enthusiast. Don’t let anyone tell you that soon, cars won’t be fun anymore!