Ford rules the roost at Detroit Auto Show
DETROIT, MICH. — The Detroit International Auto Show opened with an enormous day for Ford Motor Company, which claimed a sweep of both the North American Car of the Year award, with the Ford Fusion Hybrid, and the Truck of the Year, with the Ford Transit Connect.
By coincidence, Ford was scheduled to have the first corporate press conference at Cobo Hall following the presentation of the car and truck of the year awards. Ford earlier had announced that it would be introducing the 2011 Ford Fiesta, a smaller compact car that has been available in Europe since being taken out of the U.S. market a couple of decades ago, and is coming back as a stylishly rebuilt new compact with a lot of technology aimed at super high mileage.
If the Fiesta spearheads a movement by U.S. consumers toward compact, sophisticated, high-mileage cars, Ford’s new Fiesta could be making a serious run at the 2011 Car of the Year as well.
Then, at its press conference, an entirely redone global Focus was introduced in production form, aimed at being a 2012 vehicle. This one will unite the technical global coordination that will unite the European Focus with the less-sophisticated U.S. Focus. The new car will be made of 55 percent high-strength steel with a new platform growing out of Volvo’s safety characteristics from the S40, with the engine-building skill of Mazda with a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder.
With the 2012 Focus aimed at establishing new gasoline-engine standards for the larger compact segment, Ford added that it would also include a plug-in all-electric hybrid version of the Focus with the technology built in the Michigan Assembly Plant.
William Ford, executive chairman, said tht economy, energy and environment will be the three primary targets of the recovering auto industry and that the company that best combines those three virtues will be the winner. Without a doubt, Ford intends to see that Ford is that winner. “For 30 years, I’ve been advocating fuel-efficiency and lower emissions,” Ford said. “Now I’m preaching to the choir.”
While Ford didn’t need to file bankruptcy or to accept government bailout loans to stay afloat in the past year, Ford’s giant rival, General Motors, followed Ford in scheduled press conferences. GM had introduced a glistening Regal GS model, boasting of 355 horsepower and flashy 0-60 times.
To be fair, GM had introduced the 2011 Buick Regal at the Los Angeles Auto Show a month earlier, so it wanted to roll out a special model of the car for its hometown backers. But in overview, when GM has been filling the television airwaves with promotions and advertising for its still-struggling vehicles, here was GM following Ford’s highly economical Car of the Year, Truck of the Year, and Fiesta plus the Focus — all aimed at lofty fuel economy — and General Motors showed off a high-performance car with raves of high horsepower and snappy acceleration. It was quite a contrast.
Other impressive displays also featured high mileage and alternative energy. Chevrolet did show off its coming Cruze, which will replace the Cobalt, while Toyota unveiled a concept 2-door coupe hybrid, and Honda did the same, following up its previous show of a CR-Z concept car with the production prototype of the car, which is a hybrid that appears to be a sleek coupe version of the Insight.
Volkswagen also showed off a future car called, imaginatively, the NCC — for New Car Concept. It is an impressively styled 2-doorwith sweeping creases and contours, which reportedly is a precursor of what the redesigned 2011 Jetta will look like.
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BMW showed a pure electric sports coupe with spectacular looks and a 165-mile cruising range, and claimed that media test drives of its hybrid will be conducted in the first half of this year.
Korean leader Hyundai showed the new Sonata that drew raves at the LA show, and it looked even better in person. It will be powered by only 4-cylinder engines, one with a turbocharger. Hyundai also unveiled its facelifted Santa Fe and an all-new Tucson.
Ford officials could leave Cobo Hall feeling good about its achievements at the show, almost as if its awards were rewards for being ahead of its domestic competitors and avoiding the bailouts. Its car and truck awards were highlights.
In what seemed like the most competitive field ever, the Fusion Hybrid, which was isolated from the other revised Fusion models as a separate candidate, ran away with the car award, amassing 282 points on a voting system where the 50 jury members distribute a total of 25 points to the field of candidates, with a maximum of 10 to any one car. The Volkswagen Golf/GTI/TDI placed second with 163 points, and the Buick Lacrosse was third with 134.
In a revote of the three top point-getters, with 10 points to be cast in any order, the Fusion Hybrid had 241, with the Golf 146 and the Lacrosse 103.
The point distribution spread out support among those that missed reaching the final three, as the Ford Taurus had 79 to rank a distant fourth, followed by the Camaro 74, Porsche Panamera 67, Mazda3 at 64, Suzuki Kizashi 57, Toyota Prius 56, Kia Soul 55, Subaru Legacy 47, BMW 335d44, the remaining Fusion lineup 33, Cadillac CTS Wagon 25, Mercedes E-Class 23, and Honda Insight 22.
In Truck of the Year, the Transit Connect may have benefitted by being a legitimate truck, albeit a compact delivery vehicle, compared to the array of crossover SUVs and grown up station wagons. The Transit Connect scored 237 points to lead the three finalists, where it was joined by the Chevrolet Equinox at 217, and the Subaru Outback at 145.
The remainder show the Audi Q5 at 125, the Land Rover LR4 116, the Volvo XC60 110, Lincoln MKT 96, Cadillac SRX 92, followed by a late-released pair — the Acura ZDX 45 and the Honda Accord Crosstour 42.
In the final revote of the three finalists, the Transit Connect had 213, the Equinox 183, and the Outback 94.
Car of the Year finalists got 2010 winter test
Timely blizzard put Buick LaCrosse and Volkswagen Golf through test.
The Christmastime blizzard of 2009 couldn’t have come at a better time, as far as car-testing is concerned. We had undergone some cold weather and a small storm during the week when I was test-driving a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid, and on Christmas week the enormo storm hit the Twin Cities and Duluth, while I jumped back and forth road-testing a Volkswagen Golf TDI and a Buick Lacrosse.
The significance is that while auto writers from all over the country drive the same new vehicles, none of them get to experience how the cars work — or if they work — in the severity of Northern Minnesota’s harshest wintertime. And the specific benefit of driving those three particular cars as 2009 spent its final week is that those are the three cars that are finalists for the 2010 North American Car of the Year.
In the 15 years I’ve voted on the jury, this is the toughest, most wide-open competition I’ve seen. The three finalists for the North American Car of the Year are the Buick Lacrosse, the Ford Fusion Hybrid, and the Volkswagen Golf, which includes the GTI and the TDI (turbo-diesel) models as well as the basic compact.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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