Detroit Show Features Future and Fantasy
Ford climaxed a busy press conference start-up by unveiling the 2016 GT.
By John Gilbert
Press preview days at Detroit’s North American International Auto Show have become a battle to exhaustion of trying to find a decent vantage point for the numerous new-vehicle presentations that run about every 20 minutes for 10 hours.
At one point, Acura was about to introduce the long-awaited renewal of its NSX, which has been used to tease the media for several years now, but appears just about ready for prime-time. As I grappled briefly then yielded to the mob scene, I chose to circle around behind the back of the media cluster, trying to find a place where I could get a glimpse of the NSX, one of the most stunning and flashy sports coupes at the show, now with over 500 horsepower from the combination of its potent V6 and three electric motors. It’s a knockout hybrid, at $150,000.
Just then, someone behind me said: “Excuse me, sir, would you move? We’ve got a car coming through.” Sure enough, a car was driving along the carpeted walkway, slowly. It was daring that some manufacturer would be moving a car right near that segment of an estimated 5,000 auto journalists trying to find one of about 100 seats at the Acura display, but it was astounding when I realized what it was. It was the surprise of the show, actually — the 2016 Ford GT.
Ford had brought back a slightly enlarged version of the original GT-40 LeMans race car about a decade ago, and it was absolutely beautiful as a replica, called simply the Ford GT. They took it off its selected market in 2006. But it is coming back, and it doesn’t pretend to be a replica of the GT-40 race car any more. As it drove slowly along the walkway, the scene was almost cartoonish; it passed us and was trailed by a turbulent gang of several dozen crazed media-types, grappling for a close-enough vantage point to get an unobstructed photo of the car, chasing it all the way to the Ford display, where it would be mounted on a twirling turntable.
“That wasn’t timed to be an intentional distraction from the NSX,” said Chris Svensson, the design director of the GT and leader of the small cluster of zealots who met in a cloistered studio within the halls of Dearborn. But he had to chuckle about the coincidental good luck of the timing.
“We had a small crew, usually about six of us, never more than 12, and we had limited reviews from management,’ Svensson said. “Management had very little input on our design. It took us just over a year, and the best thing is that people keep coming up and saying, ‘Nice concept car.’ But it’s not a concept car. The car on the stand is a production car. We’ll have these in production shortly.”
Dramatic rear styling fits the high-tech look of the Ford GT, which will be available in 2016.
The Ford GT is, in a word, breathtaking. It is above and beyond the Mustang, or the Corvette. It is up there in the heady stratosphere of car design with Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, and other top exotic cars. It looks for all the world that you could drive it home, or, if you lived in France, you could take a wrong turn on your way home and wind up on the race track at LeMans.
“It’s a technical tour de force,” said Svensson. “It was a design challenge to the extreme. The first Ford GT-40 was beautiful in ’65, when it went to LeMans and beat the Ferraris. In essence, the survivor is this car, it’s the Ford GTR of the future, All the scoops are functional. We spent a long time in the wind tunnel, and working with carbon fiber for the body.”
The two-seat sports car is created of all the best stuff, with a twin turbocharged EcoBoost V6 located as a mid-engine engine, developing over 600 horsepower. Because so many of the new vehicles being displayed at Detroit, ranging from the neatest to the most mundane, have been tipped by spy photos or shown at previous auto shows, the hard-core media was less than totally surprised by many of them. But the Ford GT made it a huge day for Ford, which had opened the forst media preview day by capturing North American Truck of the Year honors early that morning with the aluminum-bodied F-150, and placing second to the Volkswagen Golf for Car of the Year, to the surprise and disappointment of many.
Ford’s replacement for the high-performance, all-terrain Raptor on the floor at Joe Louis Arena.
Ford followed up with the first major press conference as well, gathering the media in Joe Louis Arena, which is adjacent to Cobo Hall, in order to display a new Raptor version of the F-150, and the anticipated Mustang Shelby GT-350. Then they brought out the GT, dazzling even the hardest of the hard-core journalists. After that display, the GT was moved to the center spot in the large Ford encampment inside Cobo Hall, with timing that impressed all but a few Acura public relations types.
If the 2016 Ford GT was the flashiest, it was far from the only big news on display at the show, which opened to the public on the weekend of January 17-18. High performance and luxury were prevalent, but so was alternative energy in the form of imaginative hybrids and fuel-cell cars, and the trend toward smaller-displacement engines that can become powerful with turbocharging.
Virtually all avenues, so to speak, are covered by something on the Cobo floor. The biggest story is the onrushing popularity of compact crossover SUVs, which are expanding at such a rate that is seems every company has them in multiples.
Among just a few of the other highlights:
Chevrolet expanded its electric output with the plug-in subcompact Bolt.
Chevrolet has a new redesigned Volt, with its LG-produced battery pack system improved for less weight and longer-lasting power, and the adjacent — but not linked — gas engine is a much better 1.5-liter small gasoline engine that improves power and driving range. In addition, Chevy also showed off a stubbier subcompact called the Bolt, a pure plug-in electric car that is reported to have a driving range of 200 miles.
Chrysler’s Ram division, splintered off from Dodge, is making a departure in the tradition of the crosshair grill on its 1500 pickup, and leads with the Rebel model that is a bit bigger and more muscular, aimed at the Ford Raptor.
Chrysler affiliate Alfa Romeo rolled out its slick 4C sports coupe, then brought out a roadster version of it that should prove popular on the little mid-engine two-seater.
Toyota follows up the Chevrolet Colorado’s truck challenge to its decade-old mid-size Tacoma pickup by rolling out an all-new Tacoma that is vastly redone and offers new power. It could be a tough target for the Colorado-Canyon twins.
Nissan reintroduced its full-size pickup, the Titan, adding the power of a 5.0-liter Cummins diesel that should set new standards for power and could lead a rise up from diminishing sales that rendered it almost nonexistent last year.
Volkswagen, fresh from winning North American Car of the Year, on top of Motor Trend’s Car of the Year, has a new hybrid SUV, the Cross Coupe GTE, powered by a 3.6-liter V6 and two electric motors. The plug-in, all-wheel-drive vehicle — shown as a 5-passenger, but coming also as a 7-passenger — has a range of 70 miles on pure electric.
Buick and Cadillac are aiming at expanding their markets, Buick with a new Cascada convertible and a new and long luxury sedan, and Cadillac by going over the top with the CTS-V, which will come out as a 2016 model with the supercharged 6.2-liter V8 and its 640 horsepower from the Corvette Z-06.
Lincoln, which reached the Truck of the Year final three with its new compact MKC, unveiled its big brother, the MKX, with the standard 3.7-liter V6 joined by the slick, new 2.7-liter EcoBoost V6.
BMW, expressing pride in becoming the global premium market leader, with 345,000 sales in the U.S., has 15 new models in the coming months. Shown at the show is a new plug-in electric X5 SUV, and a redesigned 6-series that includes a 6-Series convertible and a high-performance M6 coupe, and the prize new 6-Series Gran Coupe 4-door, with its rakish rear slope and hawk-like front both mellowed a bit. Under the hood, the mellowing is blown away with a new turbocharged 4.4-liter V8, which will have 445 horsepower in the 4-door coupe sedan, and 560 horsepower in the M6.
Mercedes has acknowledged the upsurge in SUVs worldwide, and particularly in the U.S., and augments its traditionally large and somewhat boxy utilities with the new GLA, a low, sleek utility version of the CLA sedan. Now it adds an even sleeker GLE, a fastback compact SUV, which Mercedes said will be one of 10 new SUVs the company will bring out by 2017.
Audi just brought out its very neat Q3 compact crossover SUV, but seems to be going the other styling direction with its new full-size Q7. With a more blunt nose and a quite-formal squared-off rear, the Q7 is reduced by 716 pounds through revisions to its frame and the use of lighter high-strength steel. Actually a bit shorter and narrower than the current model, the Q7 remains at the top of Audi’s SUV grouping, and will offer a plug-in hybrid version.
An ocean or two away, South Korea’s Hyundai innovators came up with a striking concept pickup truck, called the Santa Cruz — not to be confused with the Santa Fe or late Vera Cruz, two other Hyundai nameplates, present and past.
Stylishly angular, the Santa Cruz has four doors and a small but useful box in the rear, reminiscent of the Honda Ridgeline. Hyundai also has renovated its Sonata plug-in hybrid, with an upgraded 2.0-liter 4-cylindere that complements its new and more powerful electric motor unit. As a plug-in, the more potent battery pack can go 22 miles on pure electric, and can recharge its more powerful electric battery-pack system in 2.5 hours.
Jaguar and Land Rover, both owned by Tata Motors of India, continue to enrich and expand their impressive models. A new Range Rover Discovery is about to be unveiled, and as if to keep up with their SUV-based sibling, Jaguar (Jag-You-Are, thank you) is adding a crossover SUV to its stable of luxury sedans and sports cars. The stunning F-Type Coupe and Roadster will add all-wheel drive.
Volvo, owned by a Chinese holding company these days but still based in Gothenburg, Sweden, has done an impressive job of redesigning the S60 midsize sedan. And while Volvo has car-making facilities in China, where its safe and now-stylish cars are selling well, Volvo announced it would be sending China-made S60s to the U.S.
Nissan again showed the Infiniti Q60 concept that was at the Los Angeles show in November, and with a coupe model and upgraded twin-turbo V6 engines, it seems closer to reality.
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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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