     Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Ford F-150, Ford 1 Concept, Mini John Cooper Works & Ford Driving Simulator. Click image to enlarge |
Jacob’s Picks
Not to be outdone, I had to put in my picks as well. After all, I had to justify all the time I spent drooling over the show floor. And so, in no particular order, the standouts of Detroit as I saw them:
1) Concept Car: Kia’s GT4 Stinger is not only awesome looking, it bridges that bizarre gap between something like the Hyundai Genesis, and the Scion FR-S. It’s smaller than the Genesis, and packs more grunt than the Scion. If this thing makes it to production – and it might – this could be the car that budget tuners flock to. It might also be the car that pushes Toyota/Subaru into giving the FR-S/BRZ twins more grunt.
2) Performance Car: Jeff already touched on the awesomesauce that is the Corvette Z06. I can’t disagree. There were Vipers there, and they were cool, but the Corvette is a step above. This one even looks better than the old versions. It looks more adult, and more angry, and more fun all at the same time. I hadn’t drunk the Corvette Kool-Aid yet, previous models just didn’t excite me. This one does.
3) Truck or SUV: The F-150 was unveiled at the show and rightly claimed a lot of attention – after all, this is the rig that has decimated its opposition in the sales charts for more almost four decades in the USA, and almost five in Canada. But don’t let that hype get in the way of the GMC Canyon/Chevrolet Colorado story – American truck makers are back in mid-size utes, and that’s a powerful story.
4) Common Sense Car: Did someone say Volvo V60 Sportswagon? Okay, maybe this one is a little too expensive, but it is a hatch, and so it’s practical. Also it’s not brand new – it was unveiled earlier, but still, for me it’s the most interesting and captivating “common-sense” car there is. Powerful, beautiful, practical. Looking at recent reveals, Volkswagen’s Passat Bluemotion concept complete with a 1.4L four-cylinder with cylinder deactivation (making it a 0.7L two-cylinder when required) was intriguing.
5) Best Pleasant Surprise: The Ford1 Concept in the Mustang area of the Ford exhibit. No, it’s not new – it’s half a decade old! But seeing this original concept from Ford with the Mustang logo on its fender was wonderful. If you’re talking about pleasant surprises in the unveils? Acura did a wonderful job with their revised TLX – and their racecar edition looked the goods too. In vibrant red the TLX was impressive to look at, and filled with interesting ideas, like an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission with a torque converter bolted to the front. Why? Because they can, I guess.
6) Car I Most Wanted to Simply Drive Home: Mini! The John Cooper Works Mini at the show was a stunner; even in its newer, bigger form the JCW Cooper S hatch is pure sex. “I did but see her passing by, and yet I’ll love her till I die.”
7) Best Show Activation: There are always plenty of exciting tricks and gimmicks to get punters’ attention at an auto show, everything from free coffee on the train in (thanks Mercedes), to free coffee on the show floor (thanks Acura), and yes, free coffee in the media centre (thanks Michelin). This year there was a healthy number of driving simulators – but they were all trumped by the epic, space-age, moving rigs brought along by Ford. So. Much. Fun.
8) Biggest Surprise: The lack of autonomous concepts and tech presentations. They were there, especially in Ford’s set of symposiums, but I expected to see more actually on the floor of the show. Especially given some of the claims floating about, for example Nissan’s claim that they will mass-market an autonomous car by 2020.
There was a lot of depth in this show, proof that the domestic automotive market in North America is enjoying a renaissance.
The Detroit show positively buzzed with the smiles of executives from the Big 3, all riding high on the back of a record-breaking sales year. Bring on 2014.
