Year of the Car

The cars really were the stars at 2004's North American International Auto Show.

However trite, the phrase was completely appropriate at this year's Detroit auto show. The hometown manufacturers — for the past decade unwavering worshipers at the shrine of the light truck — preponderantly biased their collective unveilings toward honest-to-goodness cars. Ford Motor Co. declared 2004 “The Year of the Car.”

As the domestic Big Three rediscover cars, journalists and other showgoers noted an intense irony at this year's Detroit soiree. The Japanese auto makers — all of which achieved their generally enviable current stature from decades of hawking cars — turned the tables on Detroit by unveiling several ominously significant near-production trucks.

But the press largely was too dazzled by Detroit's revitalized attention on cars to ponder deeper symbolism. After all, it's a rare occasion when perhaps the only two remaining genuine American car icons are unveiled at the same show. The fireworks started when Ford ripped the sheet off the all-new '05 Mustang, and General Motors Corp. gladly poured high-octane gasoline on the fire with the launch of its sixth-generation Corvette.

DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group couldn't bear being upstaged. Its surprise for the show — extraordinarily, none of the press had seen the car prior to its unveiling in Detroit — was the stupefying ME Four-Twelve supercar concept, replete with a quad-turbo V-12 and a stunningly finished appearance.

The mid-engine, rear-drive prototype gets 850 hp and 850 lb.-ft. (1,152 Nm) of torque from the multi-turboed engine based on an AMG Mercedes V-12. Chrysler estimates the production-feasible ME, with a curb weight of only 2,828 lbs. (1,283 kg), could accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (97 km/h) in a record 2.9 seconds.

“It all works,” crows Chrysler Chief Operating Officer Wolfgang Bernhard. “All the crash work is done, and all the thermal testing basically is done.” If the customers are there, the auto maker will pursue the business case, Bernhard says, adding the ME could be priced anywhere from $240,000 to $1 million.

Okay, so the jaded press had seen the new Corvette and Mustang prior to their Detroit show expose. It hardly mattered, as the fourth estate unashamedly drooled over both.

The '05 Mustang rides on an all-new rear-drive architecture, although Ford initially described the Mustang's underpinnings as a modified DEW98 platform. The new Mustang also has a new front suspension and a 3-link solid rear axle rather than the independent rear suspension integral to the original DEW98 design.

The big news in the engine bay is the GT's 300-hp, 3-valve, all-aluminum variant of the 'Stang's longstanding 4.6L V-8. Garden-variety Mustangs enjoy an upgrade to the corporate 4L SOHC V-6 that churns out 202 hp.

But it's the Mustang's new-old look that's likely to be the deal-closer: The brawny GT is almost a perfect fusion of the best of the hunky '60s styling and practically could be a stand-in for McQueen's immortal “Bullitt” ride. And the standard-trim Mustang, shown in an era-perfect retro-green, isn't hard on the eyes, either.

GM wasn't quite so Route 66-nostalgic with the '05 Corvette, but the sixth-generation of the Chevy 2-seater owes plenty to Corvettes past. Some thought the new shape doesn't diverge drastically from the previous car's, although others saw in the new sheetmetal — er, plastic composite — a daring upgrade, particularly with the new exposed headlights and obviously tidier dimensions and overhangs.

Corvette also introduced GM's heavily reworked “Gen IV” small-block V-8, bored to 6L from its previous 5.7L and cranking out an even 400 hp and 400 lb.-ft. (542 Nm) of torque. And although we've heard it before, the General promises new heights of interior quality and materials.

With the glitzy unveilings behind them, Detroit's Big Three got down to the business of promoting a new generation of bread-and-butter cars. Ford showed final versions of its Five Hundred sedan and the Freestyle cross/utility vehicle built on the same unibody platform.

Although nobody was overwhelmed by its styling, the Five Hundred — roomy and apparently well-appointed — may deliver as a legitimate Taurus replacement. Ditto for the Freestyle, Ford's shot at competing with Chrysler's Pacifica and Cadillac's SRX, both of which have had trouble with buyers balking at ambitious pricing.

The new Five Hundred/Freestyle platform appears promising, with 4-corner independent suspension and all-wheel drive to accompany its base front-wheel-drive layout. The vehicles initially will use the Duratec 3L DOHC V-6, making about 200 hp, and a high-tech continuously variable transmission — built in cooperation with ZF Friedrichshafen AG — is optional. But expect to see Ford's coming 3.5L V-6 in the vehicle, once engineers realize the 3L's 200 hp isn't going to be enough.

Over at Chrysler, the family-sedan counter-volley was the '05 300C and Dodge Magnum rear-drive full-sizers. The 300-series sedans and Magnum, a muscular station wagon, front unabashedly Ram-influenced American styling, extra-large footprints and several parts numbers from the Mercedes catalog. Power ranges from a 2.7L V-6 to the over-the-top option of the 340-hp Hemi V-8. AWD is optional.

GM answered with a pair of crucial new cars: the Pontiac G6, which displaces the longstanding Grand Am nameplate, and the Chevy Cobalt compact, which, in tandem with the Chevy Aveo subcompact, cancels the Cavalier.

Both appear mildly more interesting than their predecessors; Cobalt carries the tepid new Chevy corporate front-end, while the more-engaging and assertive G6 is passingly faithful to the swoopy G6 concept.

Cobalt is the first U.S.-market application of GM's new Delta FWD platform and gets power from a variety of revised Ecotec DOHC 4-cyls., including a 2L supercharged variant and a new 2.4L.

The '05 G6 shares the midsize Epsilon FWD platform with the Chevy Malibu and starts off with the same 3.5L OHV V-6; later, Pontiac says, G6 will be the first car to use a new 3.9L OHV V-6 with variable valve timing. A 4-speed automatic remains the only gearbox available.

GM also showed a production version of the terrific Pontiac Solstice, the “cheap” roadster that proves GM can do niche, say company officials. The Solstice's Kappa RWD architecture also underpinned two of the General's concept cars, the shapely Saturn Curve and the Chevy Nomad.

Speaking of concepts, Ford held its own with GM's quantity and DC's wow-factor, thanks largely to the fully engineered Ford Shelby Cobra concept. The new-age Cobra teases with an aluminum-block 6.4L DOHC V-10 that puts out 605 hp and 501 lb.-ft (679 Nm) of torque. The lightweight (about 3,000 lbs. [1,361 kg]) Shelby has the potential to be a production car if the public response is as strong as anticipated.

Meanwhile, Ford signals it's not abandoned Lincoln/Mercury. The intriguing Lincoln Aviator CUV concept showed the company's car-based thinking for the next-generation Aviator, while the Lincoln Mark X concept probably is what the Thunderbird should have been. And Mercury showed Mariner, its production-ready version of the Escape compact CUV.

After the domestics demonstrated their rediscovery of the car, the Japanese auto makers effectively said, “Been there, done that,” and unveiled their trucks.

Toyota Motor Corp. played the outrageous card with its FTX fullsize pickup concept, audacious as anything from a Dodge Ram designer's nightmare. The FTX, of course, is a look at the next-generation Tundra fullsize pickup slated to bow in 2006. The concept included a new V-8 as part of a hybrid-electric driveline and innovative utility features — including a stowaway toolbox in the bed and utility trays under the running boards.

After years of denying a pickup is in the works, Honda Motor Co. Ltd. displayed its SUT concept, based on the Odyssey/Pilot platform. Technically it is not a typical truck — the SUT features unibody construction. But the 5-seater looks like one, with billet-machined aluminum and a “frame” look. Officials say the cues will still be there in the production version slated to bow at next year's show.

The SUT, part Explorer Sport Trac, part Cadillac Escalade ESV, is motivated by Honda's 3.5L all-aluminum V-6 coupled with an advanced, electronically controlled all-wheel-drive system. It is due in 2005, with volume in the 60,000-unit range. It will be assembled at Honda's Alliston, Ont., Canada, plant.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. weighed in with its Sport Truck Concept — soon to be better-known as a badge-engineered Dodge Dakota, courtesy of equity partner DaimlerChrysler. When Mitsu's truck hits the street in 2005, don't expect to see the concept's independent rear suspension or edgy styling, but do expect the DC-sourced 4.7L SOHC V-8.

And Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., hardly a shrinking violet these days, launched two important new truck entries: replacements for the Frontier compact pickup and the Pathfinder SUV. Both front slight variations of the loved-or-loathed front end of the Titan fullsize pickup and offer a new, 4L variant of the all-conquering VQ 3.5L DOHC V-6. The Pathfinder enjoys independent rear suspension.

Other significant Detroit show concepts: