DETROIT – A grizzled veteran who attended all of the 2010 North American International Auto Show press conferences here Monday and Tuesday says he lost count of automakers’ use of the word “sustainable.” That much hasn’t changed — it’s been the word of the show since at least the mid-’00s. The difference, this time, is that while electric vehicles grabbed much of the headlines, the big news this year is small cars.
Consider the new Ford Focus, perhaps the major star of the show, judging by press day coverage, or the Chevrolet Aveo RS “concept” car, the 1.4-liter turbo four-door hatchback headed for production late this year. The Aveo’s only concept elements may be the 19-inch wheels and center dual exhaust pipe, which Chevy hopes the sport compact tuner crowd adds to the suddenly interesting subcompact.
So let’s call that the theme of the 2010 NAIAS. I didn’t attend all the press conferences, because Motor Trend has a full staff covering this show, and we split them up, but I saw pretty much everything:
Best in Show: Unlike previous shows, even last year’s, there are no big standouts. Rather, the show was filled with good, solid product, most of it quickly headed for production or lightly disguised future production models. That said I’m going to award the Audi e-tron Detroit concept because the German automaker continues to extend its design leadership to a rather pie-in-the-sky electric sports car. Updated from the Frankfurt ’09 e-tron, the crystal-blue Audi combines R8 styling in what looks more like a TT-sized coupe. The two rear motors provide 201 horsepower and 1955 lb-ft of torque (that’s not a typo — that’s apparently Audi’s multiplied torque number) to the rear wheels only (no quattro). What I like best, though, are the rear sail panels flowing into horizontal taillamps that give the car a mid-century “Jetsons”-era look. Sublime.
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