How Detroit Stole the 2012 Detroit Auto Show
“I’ll never forget the 2009 show,” Christophe Georges, the president and COO of Bentley said to me as we admired not just his new V-8-powered Continental GT, but also the buzz in the air. “It was grim.” And if the 2009 Detroit show was grim, the 2008 Los Angeles show was frostbitten. To refresh your memory, Chrysler didn’t even bother shipping cars to L.A., instead they just had dealers pull product off the lots. It was during the L.A. show that the Big 3 CEOs famously and obnoxiously all flew to D.C. on their private jets to beg for government cash. Two months later in Detroit things were only worse, with GM and Chrysler headed for bankruptcy and Ford mortgaged up past its ears. Those were some dark, scary, trying times for the auto industry.
This year in Detroit however, things are very different. For the first time in a very long time, Detroit is the positive center of the Detroit show. And by Detroit I mean Ford, Chrysler and GM showed off the cars that people were talking about. In fact, I didn’t hear a whole lot of non-American cars being discussed at all. Some inside baseball for you: a typical greeting from one auto journalist to another on the show floor goes something like, “So, what do you like?” And a typical answer is listing off your top three favorite cars. During the 2012 North American International Auto Show I asked that question at least a dozen times, and I heard the same answers again and again and again. With one big exception, they were all domestic. Now, it wasn’t all rainbows and homeruns for the Big 3 – the 2013 Buick Encore being a particularly underwhelming effort. By and large however, the Detroit show belonged to Detroit.
2012 Detroit: Stuff Your Ballot Boxes for the Chevrolet Code 130R Concept
DETROIT — Call, write, email, tweet Chevrolet right now and tell them you want the Code 130R. The red one. GM’s advanced design chief, Clay Dean, says the vote so far is overwhelmingly for this rear-drive car over the Cruze-based Tru 140S, the white car, which frankly (my opinion, not his) looks like a Mitsubishi Eclipse. These are the two Chevy concepts GM is showing to young people to gauge interest and build a business case. The red car’s designer, Joe Baker, worked for Ford, where he designed the 427, Interceptor, and Bronco concepts. Although the company applied some of his design cues to front-drive cars, Ford never produced his concepts, so listen up GM: Don’t let the red car or his designer get away.
Here’s why I chose the Code 130R as the most significant intro from the 2012 North American International Auto Show. It’s meant to be a $20,000 rear-drive coupe that can reach 40 mpg with a 1.4-liter Ecotec turbo four, and it’s based on the same Alpha platform as the Cadillac ATS, the next CTS, and the 2015 Camaro. It’s like a reversal of GM in the bad old days of Roger Smith, when it went to front-drive for most of its cars, including Cadillacs and Buicks. I don’t expect GM to switch back to RWD for most of its cars, nor should it. But it would be nice if the Alpha platform and a lightened Zeta II could accommodate a variety if cars of varying sizes and sticker prices, from Chevy to Buick to Cadillac to Holden and even Opel.
2012 Detroit: Chrysler Design Chief Ralph Gilles On The Acura NSX Concept
Just after the Acura press conference, I ran into Chrysler hot shot Ralph Gilles giving the NSX concept the evil eye. Gilles, as you should know by now, is known for his many Pentastar design contributions, including the Chrysler 300 and, lately, as the company’s design chief and CEO of the new SRT performance division.
I managed to buttonhole Gilles and get his thoughts as a designer on the NSX and some hints on the products his crew is working on.
Motor Trend: So what do you think of the Acura NSX?
Ralph Gilles: I’m happy to see Acura starting to relax. Some of their stuff has been a little stiff. And this is starting to show a nice design language evolve into a mixture of grace and precision. Which is good. I mean, the proportions are cool. What’s not to like about these kinds of proportions? And I hope it follows through [into production]. It’s nice to see a kind of compact supercar.
2012 Detroit: Mazda’s Derek Jenkins’ Take On The 2013 Dodge Dart
While taking in the all new Dodge Dart I ran across an old friend and stud Mazda car designer Derek Jenkins. I sat back in the cut watching as Jenkins and a colleague examined the new Dart from top to bottom; jumping behind the driver’s seat, poking and prodding materials and taking pictures of details like the LCD screens, surfaces, and trim.
Hot Detroit Rumor: Chrysler to Replace Dodge Challenger with a Barracuda!
DETROIT — The 2012 North American International Auto Show has barely opened to the international press, and already the hottest rumor on the show floor is that Chrysler/Fiat is working on a replacement for the Dodge Challenger. It will be called Barracuda (though probably not Plymouth) and could be ready in time to launch for the original’s 50th anniversary, which would be a couple of months before the Ford Mustang’s 50th anniversary in April 2014 and the launch of that new car.
Two unimpeachable — though not inside — sources have told me about the Barracuda. The Dodge Challenger is the most literal interpretation of its ancestor. Because it uses the Dodge Charger/Chrysler 300 platform, it has the high front cowl of those two large sedans, and so its overall length is considerably longer than the 1970-74 Challenger, which already was the biggest car in its class. That Challenger shared its platform with the 1970-74 Barracuda, but with a stretched wheelbase.
The ’74 Challenger was followed by a Mitsubishi-sourced coupe because it needed to be more fuel efficient to get through mid-decade gas prices. There is no way to follow up the current Challenger without either changing everything but the sheetmetal, or fully redesigning it to make it look nothing like the ’70-’74/’08-current model. If Chrysler is going to redesign it, why not make it a radical departure?
