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Payne: Behind the wheel of Bollinger’s ambitious, commercial e-truck
Posted by Talbot Payne on September 21, 2023
Ann Arbor — With instant torque, innovative electric platform, and high-tech interior, Silicon Valley-based Tesla remade perceptions of the luxury automobile. Oak Park-based Bollinger Motors wants to do the same for an entirely different segment: Class 4 trucks.
Step on the throttle of the eight-ton Bollinger B4 box delivery truck and it squirts forward like a Tesla.
Turn into a roundabout and it stays planted, thanks to the huge, 158-kWh battery located low between the frame rails. Turn into a parking lot and its innovative platform allows for tight turning. It’s ideal for central-city deliveries, and it’s a long way from the off-road-focused, Bollinger B1 and B2 Hummer fighters that CEO Robert Bollinger envisioned when he founded the company eight years ago.
“Commercial EV trucks sales will outshine retail sales right away because every fleet wants them, every state is for them, and the federal government is giving subsidies. A lot of customers want B4 and B5,” said Bollinger, 56, of the commercial truck class that carries as much as 16,000 pounds and is dominated by diesel-powered Ford F450s and similar giants from General Motors Co., Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis NV, and Isuzu.
The multibillion-dollar Inflation Reduction Act — Bollinger calls it the “Biden Act” — was key to opening the floodgates to billions in federal subsidies to back up government plans to eliminate gas-fired commercial trucks just as it has targeted gas-driven retail vehicles for extinction by 2035.
To achieve that goal, the U.S. government is offering $40,000 tax credits for each commercial truck (which typically sell for $85,000-$175,000) — similar to the $7500 offered on the sale of EVs like Tesla. But where Tesla has sold like hotcakes for a decade with or without government subsidy, Bollinger says that the $40k tax break is key to EV truck adoption.
“We purposely did a Class 4 because we knew the Biden Act was coming,” he said from behind a B4 steering wheel. You’ll know the Bollinger trucks by their “B’ logo on the fascia — formed by a stacked pair of greater-than symbols.
Where Tesla built a network of DC fast chargers that enabled its vehicles to go on long-distance trips as well as plug in at home, Bollinger sees its business as local. For now, trucks carrying big loads are severely limited for distance driving compared to their diesel peers.
Bring EV trucks into an urban environment, however, and the equation changes.
My B4 tester at the University of Michigan North Research Campus Research Complex weighed in at 50% of capacity (7,770 pounds) and was equipped with a 800-volt platform, 110-200 miles of range, and charge port behind the cabin that could fit a DC fast charger or 240-volt charger.
With electric infrastructure in industrial parks, buildings, and homes throughout metro areas, the B4 can charge more cheaply overnight after a 200-mile delivery day than a comparable diesel truck can fuel. And — assuming that big, $40k government subsidy, of course — the B4 would be cheaper to operate because of its simple, rear electric motor and the ability to charge using cheap off-peak utility rates.
Bollinger expects local governments in big cities like New York and San Francisco to increasingly penalize gas-powered vehicles, which would give the e-truck a further cost advantage.
The vehicle’s operation is conducive to central-city driving.
The B4’s 44-foot turning circle — credit Bollinger’s narrow front rails— makes for better maneuverability in urban areas, and the truck’s 702-pound feet of instant torque makes merging onto traffic — think the Lodge‘s short on-ramps — much easier.
CEO Bollinger started his journey inspired by Tesla and its re-invention of the automobile. But as he entered the commercial space, he and his team learned the value of contracting with existing suppliers — not just for cost saving, but also for customer security. The rear axle is sourced through Dana, the battery through ONE, and final assembly is by Roush to ensure reliability.
“We’re operating in the same commercial environment that’s existed for 70 years,” said Bollinger, an avid environmentalist. “We sell them through dealers. Then they work with upfitters — the same people who work with diesel trucks — who sell to fleets. B1 was our dream, to make exactly the way we wanted to. The B4 is other side of the coin, we’re giving (customers) exactly what they want.”
The B4 will be on sale in the second quarter of 2024 for utilities, landscapers and delivery fleets. Bollinger said that the same clients are knocking on his door for a B5 (Class 5 truck with 16,001-to-19,500-pound rating).
Like Tesla and other retail EVs, the B4 comes with limitations. Its battery is sensitive to weather changes — heat, cold, heavy rain — which can reduce range by 25-40%. On the other hand, Bollinger equips its trucks with Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries (LFP) rather than the Nickel Manganese Cobalt batteries (MNC) more commonly used in retails EVs because LFP batteries are less prone to fire.
LFPs also don’t contain cobalt, says Bollinger electric controls director Willian Wheeler, which has caused political issues for manufacturers since most cobalt is sourced from child labor mines in the Congo. China, however, remains an issue since some 60-80% of battery minerals are sourced there.
“The commercial vehicle market is unlike retail in that it’s very relationship-based,” said Jim Connelly, who came to work for Bollinger after 25 years at GM in marketing. “It’s great to be with a start-up where we can build the product right from the ground up.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
How six Ferraris appeared on the 2023 Detroit auto show floor
Posted by Talbot Payne on September 21, 2023
Detroit — The Detroit auto show is showcasing an exotic car display for the first time during public days. The Detroit Auto Dealers Association dutifully pulled Porsches, Astons, and McLarens from local dealers.
But they really wanted their first exotic car stable to really pop.
So they called up Lauren Mendelson, a Metro Detroit car collector with one of the finest Ferrari collections anywhere. The result is a North American International Auto Show loaded with the latest Jeeps, Fords, Cadillacs — and six jaw-dropping Italian stallions to wow crowds.
“The show team came over the week before the show opened for media days, looked over my collection, and selected the six they wanted,” said the Royal Oak-based collector. “Then we drove them all downtown. The city is going through its second renaissance, and I’m very proud to be part of this show.”
Stroll over to the exotic display behind the Jeep rides, and a silver and yellow 2020 Ferrari Monza SP1 will stop you in your tracks. The 799-horsepower, V-12-powered, single-seater is one of just 499 made and cost well over $1 million when new.
But wait, there’s more. Sharing the stable is a mid-engine 2010 458 Italia, 2020 F8 Tributo, 2015 458 Speciale A convertible, and two front-engine beauties: a 2008 599 GTB and a 2014 F12 Berlinetta.
“The main ingredient that all my cars share is style,” said Mendelson of the only privately owned cars on display. “I love the design of all these cars, and I love their performance.”
Once upon a time, exotics like these could only be seen at an exclusive, $250-a-ticket Saturday evening at a local hotel prior to the show. This year, they are available for viewing to anyone with a $20 ticket ($10 for children).
Mendelson has a few other toys in her collection beyond the Ferraris. Rare cars like a 2003 BMW Z8, Mercedes AMG GT Black Series, Alfa 8C Competizione, 2010 Morgan AeroMax, and maybe the best-looking, modern mid-engine sports car: a 2021 Ford GT Heritage.
Mendelson exercises them all to keep them in shape.
“They have to be driven. Like humans, they’ll get old and stiff unless you move them around,” she smiled. “The Ferraris are elegant and powerful to drive, but the Ford GT is different. You really feel like you’re part of the road. Each car has its own personality.”
While the Ferraris will headline the Detroit show, there are other chances to ogle cars from Mendelson’s collection. Her cars have appeared at Eyes on Design, Concours d’Elegance, and her GT Black and Ford GT will be on display at the American Speed Festival at M1 Concourse later this month.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Payne: The best things to see at the 2023 Detroit auto show
Posted by Talbot Payne on September 21, 2023
Detroit — The 2023 North American International Auto Show is like a shopping mall — with rides.
In the new era of auto shows, it’s not about the vehicle reveals (for the most part, those are now independent manufacturer events); it’s about creating a good retail experience. If the Big Apple show is about premium rides and LA is about green vehicles, then the Motor City is about the auto manufacturers next door.
Detroit is the only home to three automakers, and they are the anchor stores at Huntington Place Mall — er, convention center. General Motors and its brands anchor the southeast corner of the exhibition hall, Stellantis the northeast corner, and Ford is at the center. Displays are big, colorful, with lots of cars and digital screens.
Toyota also has substantial store space with Volkswagen, Honda, Kia, Hyundai, and Mini showing boutique spaces. Absent are full-line model displays from significant brands like Mazda, Subaru, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes, and Acura — a shortcoming of other shows as well.
Like the Mall of America in Minneapolis, the Detroit show has amusement rides. Five in all, from electric vehicle tracks to Jeep and Ford rollercoasters. The icing on the cake is a premium car display anchoring the floor’s northwest center. The Detroit Auto Dealers Association has rolled in a cornucopia of exotica, including Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Bentley, and more.
Bring the whole family and spend a day at the mall. Here are the must-sees at the North American International Auto Show.
EV track. You might spend half the day here. Taking up 20% of the floor’s space in the southwest quadrant, the EV track features over a dozen electric vehicles to ride. And these aren’t granola-mobiles, but some of the fastest cars on the planet. The drivers are eager to show you what they can do. Pile the family into a GMC Hummer pickup (0-60 MPH in, ahem, 3.0 seconds) or Tesla Model S sedan (0-60 MPH in 3.1 seconds) and hold on. With instant torque, the EVs will leave your vertebrae imprint on the seats as you rocket to 45 mph on the back straight.
That’s right, Tesla is in the house. In a rare sight at a U.S. show, S, X, and Y models are on hand for rides. Smartly, organizers have arranged “pit stalls” so showgoers can choose the vehicle they want to ride in. Stalls include Tesla, GMC, Cadillac (Lyriq), Ford (Mach-E), VW (ID.4) and more. Expect lines, so plan accordingly. If it’s nice outside, check out the second EV track, which takes you along part of the Detroit Grand Prix course.
Jeep, Ford, Ram tracks. For the best view of the show, climb into a doorless Bronco or Wrangler and ride into the rafters. The mini-rollercoaster isn’t as quick as the EV course, but it’s a taste of the capabilities of these off-road warriors. The ride also showcases vehicle capabilities over rough terrain and at steep side angles. The Ram activation won’t take you into the ceiling, but it will show off the 1500’s towing muscle.
Ford F-150. Ford is making a habit of dropping big reveals on NAIAS, and this year, they’ve wheeled out the latest F-150 truck, the best-selling vehicle in America. The brute gets updates across its model lineup from a base XL to a six-figure Raptor. Ford is featuring the off-road Tremor model, and it’s a beaut. Check out the new “coast-to-coast” grille, modular front bumper armed with a winch, and knobby off-road tires. But the real fun is out back, where the bed (that’s why you buy a pickup, yes?) shows off the new Pro Access Tailgate with a built-in swing-gate for easier cargo access. Once in the bed, check out the new Bed Storage Box for your small tools and accessories.
Ford Mustang GTD. Ford’s iconic Mustang enters the supercar stratosphere. The GTD is a street-legal race car injected with all of the Ford Performance division’s steroids. Using the same supercharged, 5.2-liter V-8 powerplant as the GT500, GTD (named after the IMSA racing class) cranks up the wick to over 800 horsepower. Like a scorpion’s tail, a huge wing sprouts from the rear for downforce to keep the beast planted. The ‘Stang also boasts a $300,000 supercar price. OMG GTD.
Performance. There’s plenty of horsepower on the floor beyond GTD. A Cadillac CT5 Blackwing lurks in the GM display, complete with 668 horsepower from its 6.2-liter V-8. The single-seater, 799-horse Ferrari Monza highlights the exotics. You want a super truck? The Ram 1500 TRX Final Edition cranks out 702 horses. And for those on a budget, check out the 300-horse, all-wheel-drive Toyota GR Corolla hot hatch for under $40K. That’s GR as in GRRRRRR.
Screen wars. Ever since the Tesla Model S debuted a 17-inch console screen, the screen wars have been on. Inspired by the Lyriq EV, the new Cadillac CT5 and XT4 both boast curved, 33-inch dash displays. Every automaker has its take, but the 2024 Lincoln Nautilus is the first U.S. vehicle to offer a pillar-to-pillar, full-dash display. Measuring 48 inches across, this jumbotron is so big that it needs its own command screen, which sits in the center console. Program jumbotron to your liking and all your data is at eye level to keep your head up.One more thing. Be sure to let the kids ride the toy, electric Jeeps. You’re never too young to drive.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
GMC Acadia goes big with all-new version of SUV
Posted by Talbot Payne on September 21, 2023
Detroit — The GMC Acadia is going big.
General Motors’ premium brand unveiled an all-new version of its mid-size SUV at the Detroit auto show Wednesday, and it might have fit half the grandstand that attended. The third-generation expands its wheelbase by 8.4 inches, its overall length by 10.6, and its height by 3.2 inches — for a much larger interior. The Acadia now comes only as a three-row SUV with seating for seven or eight, and an 80% cargo increase behind the first row seats (a 36% increase if the third-row seat is stowed).
In the outgoing two-and-three-row Acadia, GMC skimped on third-row space. Now Acadia lavishes its third row customers with attention. Not only does the third-row seat provide enough head-and-legroom for six-footers, but designers re-engineered the C-pillar to accommodate a much bigger window for third-row passengers to count cows on long road trips.
There’s more glass room overhead as well as the Acadia now options a panoramic roof in upper trims. Speaking of trims, Acadia ditches, entry-level alphanumeric trims for an Elevation base model followed by the Elevation Premium, rugged AT4, and posh Denali.
The pricey AT4 and Denali trims are expected to make up 50% of Acadia sales in the hot-selling mid-size gas segment — along with the huge Chevy Traverse and Buick Enclave that are built on the same bones. Big margin, high volume gas SUVs from the GM trio are crucial at a time when Cadillac is expected to go all-electric with its next-generation, 2025 XT6 amid uncertainty about the future of large, battery-powered SUVs.
Beginning with the 2017 model year, Acadia was built on the same, smaller, gas-powered chassis as the current XT6 — but GMC marketing since found that American crave more space and so the GMC has joined its Chevy and Buick siblings in offering a penthouse-sized interior.
“For this next generation, our mission was to reimagine the design and the proportions of the Acadia to create a bolder, more commanding presence,” said design lead Ben Zavala. “With its assertive, powerful stance, the 2024 Acadia evokes a truck-inspired persona, infused with the brand’s signature premium feel.”
The penthouse includes the latest tech as Acadia gains an enormous, thin, 15-inch vertical screen that dominates the center console. It’s similar to the 17-inch screen unveiled on the 2024 GMC Sierra EV pickup truck. The lovely console screen combines the thin, vertical screen that wowed on the Jeep Grand Cherokee in 2021 with the Mustang Mach-E-like volume knob and classic GMC piano key buttons at the base as climate controls.
The infotainment screen features Google built-in5 compatibility for navigation similar to that on a Google Maps.
GM’s Super Cruise drive assist is offered for the first time on GMC’s mid-size chariot (eat your lunch hands free behind the wheel! Watch it change lanes automatically!) and is available beginning with the Elevation Premium trim — as is a head-up display.
Move up to the top-drawer Denali trim and you can option a rear camera mirror and heated front and rear seats. But unlike past GM products, Acadia doesn’t skimp on standard safety features including blind-spot assist (with auto steer to avoid a side collision), adaptive cruise control, rear cross-traffic alert, seven camera views, and more.
About the only thing that hasn’t been supersized on the Acadia is the engine bay. Acadia choices have shrunk as the model dropped its V-6 engine (due to tightening federal emissions regulations) and now only offers a 4-banger mated to an eight-speed, automatic transmission. The 2.5-liter turbo-4 is a bear. It packs 328 horsepower and 326 pound-feet of torque — more than the outgoing V-6 — as well as increasing the SUV’s towing ability to 5,000 pounds.
That torque will be useful off-road in the AT4 model which sports Goodyear Wrangler all-terrain tires, a 1-inch lift, all-wheel-drive with a dual-clutch in the rear, and front skid plate should you want to take your family picnic off-road.
You’ll know the AT4 by its signature, red tow hooks. Inside it gains Terrain mode and Hill Descent Control. The Denali, meanwhile, is distinguished by 22-inch machined aluminum wheels outside. Inside, that panoramic sunroof is available, as well as laser-etched wood, available second-row, heated seats, and one-touch folding second-row seats and power-folding third row
All this capability is wrapped in a new, bold design with a different grille for each trim framed by dramatic, C-clamp shaped headlights.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne
Here are the 25 ‘Best of 2024’ vehicles in the NACTOY awards
Posted by Talbot Payne on September 21, 2023
Detroit — The North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year awards kicked off Wednesday’s first full day of the Detroit auto show with the “Best of 2024” vehicles nominated for the 2024 prize. Ten cars, five trucks and 10 utility vehicles advance to the semifinal round of the prestigious contest.
The list is full of surprises.
In the SUV category, America’s iconic Jeep Wrangler did not make the cut, likely because its 2024 model was more update than remake. That, and electric vehicles are all the rage, and the jury was smitten by pricey EVs like the $56K Chevrolet Blazer EV and the $68K Genesis GV70 Electrified. Clever, compact SUVs like the all-new Chevy Trax and Buick Envista also were overlooked despite affordable, sub-$30K sticker prices at a time when Americans are struggling to afford inflated, $50K-average new vehicle prices. The 25 best were winnowed from a field of 52 eligible 2024 models.
The affordable Subaru Crosstrek was also passed over (though its sister Impreza hatchback got a car nominee nod) as was the Alfa Romeo Tonale, the luxury brand’s peppy plug-in hybrid that marks a new era of electrification for the Italian brand. Notable Utility nominees include the first electric Chevrolet Equinox, quick Dodge Hornet, stylish Mazda CX-90 and the Kia EV9 — the first three-row electric SUV.
The NACTOY awards are among the industry’s most prestigious as 50 independent journalists from the United States and Canada render their judgment after a year of extensive testing. The 25 best will be furthered winnowed to three finalists in each category Nov. 16 at the Los Angeles Auto Show — and then winners will be named Jan. 4 in Detroit.
“The value of these awards is in the expertise and diverse perspectives of our jurors,” said NACTOY president Jeff Gilbert. “We all evaluate vehicles in a different way. We look forward to learning more about them and comparing them with the competition.”
There were surprises in the truck category as well.
Perhaps the year’s most anticipated truck, the Tesla Cybertruck, did not make the list — likely because Tesla has not made the pickup available for media testing. Another surprise was the absence of the 2024 Toyota Tacoma, the much-ballyhooed remake of the mid-size segment’s best-selling pickup. However, Tacoma will be available for media testing this year — and will likely debut on the NACTOY list as a 2025 model next fall.
Without Tacoma in the mix, the truck wars will be settled by five worthy semi-finalists: the Chevrolet Colorado, Chevrolet Silverado EV, Ford Ranger, Ford Super Duty and GMC Canyon. While EVs are all the rage, the Silverado’s $50K-$106K price tag may raise eyebrows. Expect the Colorado and Ranger to fight to the death for top honors.
While car demand has diminished in recent years in the face of Americans’ thirst for SUVs (Ford doesn’t even make sedans anymore), the best car category is loaded.
Nominees include everything from the iconic Ford Mustang to the first all-wheel-drive Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray to the venerable BMW 5-series and reborn Toyota Prius. Expect the Prius to be a favorite as the original hybrid nerd-mobile has been transformed into a swan — without sacrificing fuel economy.
The Mustang and Prius can expect strong competition from the handsome Honda Accord — which is targeting 50% hybrid sales — and the Hyundai Ioniq 6, one of the prettiest sedan designs to come down the pike. Performance enthusiasts will be disappointed that the Porsche 911 GT3 RS and 911 Dakar didn’t make the cut — but the snarling, all-wheel-drive Toyota GR Corolla will carry the flag for those with a need for speed.
The auto industry is at a crossroads as government regulators are forcing automakers to go all-electric — or pay increasingly onerous fines from 2026 to 2035. Consumers, meanwhile, seem shy to EVs not named Tesla and so gas-fired trucks and SUVs continue to roll off assembly lines.
Over the last 30 years, NACTOY has honored automakers who have made substantial innovations in design, performance, technology, driver satisfaction and value. With the flood of new EVs, jurors are determined to recognize the best of the new breed while also balancing consumer needs.
Stay tuned for more NACTOY news as the awards season heats up.
2024 NACTOY semi-finalists
Cars
BMW 5 Series
BMW i5
Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray
Ford Mustang
Honda Accord
Hyundai Ioniq 6
Subaru Impreza
Toyota Crown
Toyota GR Corolla
Toyota Prius/Prius Prime
Trucks
Chevrolet Colorado
Chevrolet Silverado EV
Ford Ranger
Ford Super Duty
GMC Canyon
SUVs
Chevrolet Blazer EV
Chevrolet Equinox EV
Dodge Hornet
Genesis Electrified GV70
Honda Pilot
Hyundai Kona
Kia EV9
Mazda CX90
Toyota Grand Highlander
Volvo EX30
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne
Payne: 5 things about the 2024 Ford F-150
Posted by Talbot Payne on September 21, 2023
Detroit — The 2024 Ford F-150 pickup is here and it is still gas-powered.
Time to adjust the reality meter. In 2015, Ford debuted the first aluminum-bodied truck, which was hailed as the tipping point for an all-aluminum pickup revolution. Didn’t happen. Its competitors today are still made of good ol’ steel. In 2022, Ford’s Lightning electric truck was hailed as a milestone in Americans’ embrace of EVs. Nope. Lightning sales have been slow as buyers balked at high sticker prices and low towing range.
The 2024 F-150 focuses on meat and potatoes. America’s best-selling pickup for over four decades, the next-gen F-150 unveiled Tuesday night is all about the word “choice” — a contrast to government regulations forcing automaker eggs into a single, battery-powered basket by 2035. Ford hails the “power of choice” in its available powerplants, which include a 2.7-liter EcoBoost V-6 engine, 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6, 3.5-liter PowerBoost hybrid V-6, 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6, 5.0-liter V-8, 5.2-liter supercharged V-8. And the Lightning EV, of course. There’s also endless configuration choices in cabs, box lengths, materials, tires, colors.
Here are five highlights from a pickup Ford is determined to keep on top in the Truck Wars and sell nearly a million units a year.
1) Pro Access Tailgate: GMC wowed the industry with its six-way MultiPro Tailgate (now available on Chevys too as the Multi-Flex) in 2019, and you know Ford was itching to respond. Say hello to the Pro Access Tailgate — a swing-gate built into the F-150’s drop-gate. Complemented by a big, central bumper step below, the new gate enables easier access into the bed. Ford claims it allows 19 inches of additional reach compared to a conventional tailgate in the down position. And engineers have designed it with indents so it can swing open by 100, 70, or 37 degrees (so as not to interfere with a trailer).
2) Bed Storage Box: In keeping with the bed theme (which is what makes pickups different, after all), Ford offers a lockable storage box on the right interior of the bed. It’s big enough to hold accessories like tie-down straps, bungee cords, chains, jumper cables, tools, safety glasses, work gloves and so on. And if you don’t opt for Ford’s other cool bed accessory — the left-side 2.4-7.2 kW Pro Power Onboard electrical system to operate power tools/TV screens/grills — then you can get two storage boxes.
3) Tech galore: Ford has always prided itself as a tech leader (see that Pro Power Onboard), and the ’24 model offers more toys. A head-up display is offered for the first time (just like Caddys and Bimmers) so you can keep your eye on details like navigation instructions, speed limits, drive modes and BlueCruise operation without taking our eyes off the road (or trail). Speaking of BlueCruise, Ford’s highway drive-assist feature continues to improve with automatic lane changes and in-lane repositioning that automatically shifts to the outside lane to give, say, semi-trucks room.
4) The new luxe: F-150 XL, XLT and Lariat pickups are the heart of F-150 sales, thanks in part to generous tax breaks when bought for business use. But pickups are also the new American luxury and F-150 offers premium and performance trims stretching into the six-figures just like European luxury brands. There’s the new, luxurious, F-150 Platinum Plus trim (replacing Limited at a likely $85K-plus) available with “a new Smoked Truffle interior featuring Dark Smoked Truffle accents.” La-di-da. King Ranch interiors include updates like a “bi-metallic Sinister Bronze paired with chrome color scheme, and interior trim “micro-texture reminiscent of a bullwhip.” Step up to the $110K, 700-horsepower Raptor R and Ford options a modular front bumper and insane, dual live-valve Fox shocks. Eat your heart out, Mercedes AMG.
5) Standard goodies: For all the glitz of Raptors and Platinums, the base, sub-$40K F-150 is loaded with standard equipment. Twin 12-inch instrument and infotainment screens are standard, as is a 2.7-liter, 325-horsepower, 400-torque turbo-6. All models also now come standard with an extended range fuel tank, Class IV trailer hitch, blind-spot assist and cross-traffic alert.
Oh, yes, and the F-150 goes back to the top of the class in max towing (13,500 pounds) and payload (2,455 pounds). That’s a lot of meat and potatoes.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him athpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne
As government EV mandates near, automakers introduce parallel product lines
Posted by Talbot Payne on September 12, 2023
California City, California — In 2020, Kia introduced the affordable, V-6-powered, three-row Telluride with upscale design, a suite of standard features, and a price tag $5,000 south of a comparable Ford Explorer or Toyota Highlander. It flew off dealer shelves and brought Kia the 2020 award for North American Utility of the Year.
Now Kia is bringing a second SUV to the three-row segment: the pricey, battery-powered EV9 that Car and Driver estimates will start at $56,000 — $20,000 more than the Telluride — when it hits dealer lots in the fourth quarter of 2023 to take on luxury EVs like the Tesla Model Y and Cadillac Lyriq. Though it shares the Telluride’s design cues and interior software, it sits on an entirely different battery-electric platform and introduces cutting-edge tech like haptic-touch dash buttons and self-driving assist.
The parallel product strategy in the same segment is evidence of the uncertain crossroads that today’s auto manufacturers face with massive, multibillion-dollar fines looming from California and the Environmental Protection Agency if they don’t meet new emissions standards.
The Telluride/EV9 double team covers a lot of bases: It satisfies consumer demand, conforms to looming government EV mandates, and recasts the Korean mainstream brand as a luxury player in the emerging, pricey EV market.
It’s a trend that other automakers are following as well. Kia is the first mainstream automaker to double up in the three-row segment, but expect Chevrolet to introduce two — gas and battery-powered — versions of the Chevrolet Blazer later this year in the mid-size SUV segment, much like the subcompact SUV Chevy Trax/Bolt EV and Silverado/Silverado EV pickup trucks before it. Ford is expected to follow with parallel versions of the Ford Explorer. Luxury automakers like Cadillac (gas XT5/battery Lyriq), BMW (gas X5/electric iX) and Mercedes (gas GLS/electric EQS) have already been working this parallel strategy.
In a consumer-driven market, automakers might roll out new EVs in a measured manner to gain an understanding of EV demand — particularly in a market where Tesla dominates 60% of EV sales. But like utilities, today’s manufacturers are governed by government mandates, and the hammer is about to drop with tough 2026 EV sales requirements that could cripple automakers if they don’t build electric models.
In 2026, the nation’s biggest auto market — California — will require, under its new Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) rules, that 35% of automaker sales be battery-powered vehicles. Failure to meet that goal will cost them a whopping $20,000 per vehicle that they are below that threshold. The percentage jumps to 43% in 2027, 51% in 2028, 59% in 2029, and 68% in 2030 on the way to outlawing the sales of gasoline cars in 2035. Fourteen other states — including Washington and New York — have adopted the standards set by the California Air Resources Board regulatory body.
Currently, just 17% of California sales are electric — and Tesla makes up 72% of those sales. Remove Tesla, and a mere 5% of sales are electric. And, according to data from S&P Global, 50% of EV buyers return to a gas car when they go back into the market.
California’s rules are one in a three-legged stool of regulation with the EPA and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration also punishing gas-fired autos. Proposed EPA greenhouse-gas (GHG) based auto emissions limits of 82 grams of carbon dioxide/mile by 2032 would — similar to the CARB rules — require that 67% of automakers’ sales be battery-only by 2032. Only Tesla would meet that standard today.
Thus, the headlong rush of automakers to create a parallel fleet of Tesla-like EVs to their current gas models.
Kia’s product plans parallel those of government — not consumer — trends. The automaker intends to increase its EV offerings to seven vehicles by 2027 — a 250% increase over its EV lineup today — by 2027. In line with government rules, Kia says its fleet will be 70% electrified by 2030 on the way to a full transformation to EVs.
Meanwhile, EV sales, according to analysts, appear to be plateauing in the U.S. at 7-10% with EVs taking 103 days to sell on dealer lots, according to a Cox Automotive survey, compared to 45 days for gas cars. “Our analysis shows a natural resistance somewhere between 7% and 10% of local market share in a given state,” said iSeeCars analyst Karl Brauer. “That seems to be where it gets much harder to grow EV share after early adopters have bought in.”
Kia Marketing Vice President Russell Wager acknowledges that the brand’s initial EV offering, the mid-size EV6 (which was NACTOY Utility of the Year for 2023) is sitting on lots like other EVs.
“The early adopters got it,” he said. “Now we’ve got that next group — the next 25%. They want to know — is 300 miles enough for me? How quick does it charge? Where am I going to charge? It’s on us and the other (automakers) to continue to educate that you don’t need more than 250-300 miles of range because the average person is driving less than 100 miles round-trip.”
The Telluride was a breakthrough product for Kia. That success gave it the confidence to launch the sci-fi EV9, the first mainstream three-row electric SUV.
Its blocky, upright proportions look like it drove out of the movie “Tron.” No grille, vertical lamps, huge aero wheels. The interior is sleek, anchored by a mega 25-inch screen display and haptic-touch menu controls. The high-tech features are endless, from highway driver assist to massage seats to head-up display to voice commands.
With 240-300 miles of range, it could travel from Los Angeles to Vegas in a single stop on the platform’s 880-volt architecture. And to make sure other cities are as accessible, Kia — and six other automakers — are taking a page out of Tesla’s book and building a proprietary charging network.
Kia says that dealers are excited about the new electric product — just as long as Kia also keeps the Tellurides coming.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne
5th annual Detroit 4fest: A celebration of automakers, dirt and off-roading
Posted by Talbot Payne on September 9, 2023
Holly — If the Detroit auto show is an indoor showcase of the auto industry’s latest trends, then Detroit 4fest is an outdoor showcase for the industry’s hottest segment: off-roading.
Thousands of off-road enthusiasts from all over the Midwest will descend on Holly Oaks ORV Park’s 235 acres this weekend to play in one of Michigan’s best sandboxes, with 200-foot elevation changes, swampy courses, and epic trails. Where there are consumers, companies follow, and there will be display tents and vehicles from title sponsor Jeep as well as from Chevrolet, GMC, Ford and Toyota. Michigan dealers LaFontaine and Szott are also on site with new chariots as well as eye candy like the Ford Bronco DR desert racer.
Open to anyone with an off-road-capable vehicle — and to those who want to test the latest from Jeep’s Wrangler stable — 4fest takes over Holly Oaks ORV Park 30 miles north of Detroit for a weekend of filthy fun.
“This is an event where u can bring your own vehicle and enjoy the adventure lifestyle,” said Detroit 4fest CEO Tom Zielinski. “For new attendees, we have Off-Road 101 lessons this weekend. This all started very organically — it was some people off-roading on the weekend, then all of a sudden we had thousands of people joining us. All the manufacturers are here with their finest off-road wares.”
In addition to manufacturer displays, 4fest’s Vendor Village features some 60 off-road equipment makers with accessories, performance parts and more to make off-road bruisers even more capable. Vendors include Bilstein, General Tire, JKS Manufacturing, General RV Center, Blacklake Research and more.
The event’s kick-off event Friday night? Twilight off-roading from 7-9 p.m. over Holly Oaks’ 40 miles of trails and tribulations.
Three members of the Jeep Babes off-road club came early Friday to help with organization and play in the mud. “I can’t wait to take my Wrangler 392 out on the trails,” said Melissa Tomassi, 44, of Troy. “I love the Tetons rollercoaster hills and the technical Mt. Magna.”
Mt. Magna is a recreation of some of Moab, Utah’s most fearsome obstacles, including Mashed Potato Hill, Gravy Bowl and the Golden Crack. Tomassi was joined by fellow Jeep Babes April Gala, 59, of Shelby Township and Robin Johnson, 64, of Rochester Hills. The Babes are 4,300 strong in Michigan — 14,000 nationally — and are planning their own weekend at Holly next month.
Such events are testimony to the explosion in off-road interest across the country as automakers have responded to Americans’ pandemic wanderlust with more overlanders like the Ford Ranger Raptor, Bronco Sport Heritage Edition, Chevy ZR2, Toyota Tacoma TRD, GMC Canyon AT4X, Land Rover Defender, Ram TRX and so on.
The torrential rains of recent weeks challenged Zielinski’s team as they manicured the park to be safe and secure for the weekend. In addition to Mt. Magna, drivers will enjoy Holy Oaks staples like Darlene’s Ridge, Flat Top, Bathtub, the Big Easy and Holly Glen.
“Holly Glen is my favorite section,” said pro race car driver Aaron Bambach, who has competed in everything from Indy Lights racers to the Super Truck series. “I took a 480-horse Wrangler 392 with 37-inch tires down there once and really put it to the test.”
Master the Glen and Mt. Magna and Zielinski will point you to even more challenging corners of the Oakland County Park that rose from an abandoned sand and gravel mine. “We got the notch, which is pro-level off-roading,” said Zielinski. “It’s all sorts of sketchiness.”
In addition to production mules, organizers expect a flood of ATVs, buggies, side-by-sides, and even race trucks over the two-day event. Four Ultra4 race trucks will put on an exhibition Saturday afternoon featuring local off-road racing hero, Casey Gilbert.
Everyone has a chance to learn at Holly Oaks, including students from the Jalen Rose Academy. The ex-Michigan basketball star himself will help introduce kids to the off-road world along with Jeep CEO Jim Morrison.
Detroit 4fest has spawned a Winterfest in January at Holly Oaks as well as spinoffs in Jay, Oklahoma, and Austin, Texas. Total national 4fest attendance last year? Over 50,000 people.
“This is a very engaged audience , they are very committed to what they do. Everybody wants to be part of this,” said Zielinski. “If you’re new, come out. If you’re a veteran, we have stuff to challenge you.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne
Everything you need to know about Detroit’s auto show: Rides, reveals and electrics
Posted by Talbot Payne on September 8, 2023
Detroit — Indoor and outdoor test tracks, 35 brands, a new Ford F-150, even a Jeep kids test track is in the house. After a couple of experimental transition years, the fall Detroit auto show is finding its lane in a new auto exhibition era.
The annual Detroit auto show circus opens at Huntington Place for media days Wednesday and then welcomes the public from Saturday, Sept. 16, to Sunday, Sept. 24. With colorful fall weather outside and polished displays inside on the convention center’s main floor, NAIAS promises to be one of North America’s best shows of the year.
The exhibit boasts the most brands of any show — headlined by Detroit’s own hometown automakers. Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Stellantis NV will each unveil two new vehicles, including America’s best-selling chariot, the Ford F-150, in an event Tuesday night that will take over Hart Plaza.
“Not many shows can put up 35 brands,” said Detroit auto show Executive Director Rod Alberts during a preview of the show floor this week. “We are getting back to the core of what the auto show is.”
This is a show focused on vehicles — without the distractions of giant yellow ducks and dinosaurs at last year’s event. “After the pandemic and the supply chain issues of recent years, this year is a rejuvenated show,” Alberts said. “We’ve made great strides. The show is more robust with more activations and energy all around you.”
Twenty percent of the show floor (an estimated 100,000 square feet) is occupied by NAIAS’s first main-floor electric-vehicle track — the so-called Powering Michigan EV Experience, sponsored by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 58 and the National Electrical Contractors Association.
Like visitors to an auto amusement park, show attendees will have the choice of four indoor rides — plus a test track for kids to ride in toy Jeeps. Stellantis will have a 90,000-square-foot display dominated by (actual) Jeep and Ram activations that look like something out of Disneyland. Attendees will ride along while Ram shows off its tow muscle and Wranglers scale a hill for a bird’s-eye view of the show floor.
Speaking of hills, Ford’s display will feature Bronco Mountain rides. Nearby will be the redesigned F-150, fresh from its Hart Plaza reveal; a matte-wrapped, limited-production Lightning Platinum EV truck and Ranger Raptor pickup first-look. Visitors will also get a first look at the 800-horsepower Mustang GTD supercar, which anchors a Mustang display featuring every member of the seventh-generation pony car’s family, including Mustang Mach-E Rally, Mustang Dark Horse, and GT3 and GT4 race cars.
Along the hall’s spine will be stations for different brands to show off their EVs. Government is more involved in the auto industry than ever, and manufacturers are determined to get reticent customers into electrics as regulations push to eliminate gas car production. One of the benefits of electrics is they can cruise indoors free of tailpipe emissions. There will be plenty of EV toys to ride in — GMC Hummer, Mustang Mach-E, VW ID.4 — on a twisty track with a long, fast back straight.
While the electric test track inside will offer only right-hand seat drives, customers can get behind the wheel of GM EVs outside on a test course that makes partial use of the Detroit Grand Prix route.
Tesla will not be at the show, but organizers managed to get the Austin-based automaker’s full Model S/3/X/Y lineup for the test track. With a flood of EV competitors from Ford to Hyundai to Cadillac ramping up EV production, the brand still accounts for some 60% of EV sales nationwide.
“Every auto show has its own personality, every show has had to change their game plan,” said NAIAS Chairman Thad Szott, president of the Detroit Auto Dealers Association. “Because we are the home of the Detroit Three, we have a different relationship with our automakers. This is a dealer-run show with more access to vehicle inventory because of that special relationship.”
Ford bills its show-opening Hart Plaza event on Tuesday evening as a celebration of America, with pickup trucks, Mustangs and country musicians taking the stage. Grammy-winner Darius Rucker will perform before an exclusive audience of Ford employees.
Beyond the Detroit Three brands, vehicles on display include models from Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Lexus and Volkswagen as part of corporate/regional-supported vehicle displays. Toyota will have a manufacturer-sponsored display front-and-center in the Exhibit Hall with 30 vehicles, including its bZ4X EV, hybrid Prius, and gas-engine models like the new Tacoma pickup and GR Corolla hellion.
“As a dealer association-backed auto show, one of our main goals is to display all the brands that are sold in our region,” Alberts said.
Gone are the big, multimillion-dollar displays of yesteryear — a victim of the social media revolution where brands now introduce vehicles on their own time via digital platforms. That trend has altered every auto show — not just Detroit — so NAIAS has focused on getting butts in seats via activations like the EV Experience.
There will be plenty of eye candy other than EVs. When the kiddies are done taking a ride in toy Jeeps, they’ll drool at the Exotic and Luxury Showcase in the hall’s northeast corner. These treats were once only available to an exclusive Saturday night casino audience ahead of media days. Now they are on view all through the public days, with models from Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Infiniti, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Maserati, McLaren, Mercedes, Polestar, Porsche, Rolls-Royce and Volvo.
Even more exotic is a futuristic flying car from California-based Alef Aeronautics.
Other events during the Sept. 13-14 media and technology days include the North American Car Truck and Utility of the Year announcement of the “Best of 2024” nominees (aka semifinalists), Mobility Global Forum, and AutoMobili-D, a look at future mobility platforms.
Friday night, Sept. 15, is all about the Charity Preview, which will command an expensive ticket for a good cause funding children’s charities. Attendees will watch Detroit’s beautiful people and hear the soaring voice of singer Jennifer Hudson. In keeping with the show’s Detroit-branded theme, Shinola — the show’s official timekeeper — will debut its new Canfield Speedway Lap 06 timepiece at the charity event.
“We started a watch factory in Detroit 10 years ago because this city knows how to make things,” Shinola CEO Awenate Cobbina said. “The Detroit auto show celebrates that same grit and know-how.”
Detroit auto show details
Media Day: Wednesday, Sept. 13Technology Days and AutoMobili-D: Sept. 13-14Mobility Global Forum: Sept. 13-14Charity Preview: Friday, Sept. 15Public show: Saturday, Sept. 16-Sunday, Sept. 24Tickets: Adults $20, seniors $12, kids $10Information: https://naias.com
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or X @HenryEPayne
Unveiled: Ford Mustang Mach-E Rally goes off-road
Posted by Talbot Payne on September 8, 2023
The Ford Mustang Dark Horse will tear up the track. The Mustang Mach-E Rally wants to get dirty.
Taking advantage of the Mach-E’s higher ride height and all-wheel-drive, Ford on Thursday announced an off-road version of its first electric Mustang SUV. The result is the Mach-E Rally.
The off-road beast shares similar performance specs to the twin-motor Mach-E GT with 480 horsepower and a muscular 650 pound-feet of torque (Ford estimates the Rally will get to 60 mph a little quicker than the GT’s 3.8 marker). Expect a similar starting price for the Mexico-assembled Rally at $65,000 when it goes on sale early in 2024.
But what makes the Rally unique are upgrades to the suspension and chassis. The electric ‘Stang is raised nearly an inch for better ground clearance, its twin motors shielded from off-road debris, and offers available mud flaps — though the Rally does not come with the skid plates found on more extreme, ladder-frame-based, Ford off-road vehicles like the Bronco and F-150 Raptor.
“Mustang Mach-E Rally puts Ford’s decades of passion for rally championships around the world right in the hands of our customers.’ said Ford CEO Jim Farley, who raced a Mustang GT4 coupe at Daytona earlier this year. “It takes Mustang where it hasn’t been before — to gravel and dirt roads.”
The Rally sits on meaty-sidewall 235/55/19R Michelin CrossClimate2 tires to absorb more off-road punishment. Select RallySport drive mode and the Mach-E adjusts its MagneRide shocks for a more compliant off-road ride. Fifteen-inch-rotor Brembo brakes and special springs enhance the vehicle’s athletic capabilities.
Mach-E Rally merges with the industry trend toward off-road vehicles. But unlike dirt-caked bruisers such as Bronco, Jeep Wrangler and a score of jacked pickup trucks, Rally was inspired by Rallycross, the off-road racing series that has inspired gas-powered vehicles like the Subaru WRX, Audi Quattro and Porsche 911 Dakar. Ford brought in rally racing veterans to develop the Mach-E over 500-mile trials on a rally course at its Michigan Proving Ground.
Ford estimates the range on the Rally to be 250 miles from its low-slung, 91 kWh battery, but that number may decrease significantly when playing hard in the dirt. Don’t expect the Rally to be in any long-range rally competitions just yet. Recharging from 10% to 80% range (175 miles) will take a lengthy 36 minutes.
You’ll know the Rally by its Focus RS-inspired rear spoiler, unique upper-and-lower body moldings, front splitter, black roof and front fog lights. The car’s wow factor is enhanced by dual-racing stripes and brash colors including Grabber Blue, Shadow Black, Eruption Green, Start White, Glacier Gray and Grabber Yellow.
Inside, passengers will strap into gloss white seatbacks with “Mach-E Rally” debossed into the seating surface. Rally options the latest version of Ford’s BlueCruise 1.3 driver assist so that owners are comfortable taking the interstate to their favorite remote location. The system offers auto lane changes and in-lane re-positioning when next to big trucks.
“We have always explored new areas of performance, and the combination of a rally-tuned suspension, dual motor electric powertrain, and wicked styling makes the Mustang Mach-E Rally a different kind of performance vehicle that will excite customers chasing their next adventure,” said Mach-E chief engineer Donna Dickson.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne
Payne: Subaru Impreza makes the case for the family hatchback
Posted by Talbot Payne on September 8, 2023
Bowmanville, Ontario — Subaru has carved out a niche in the competitive U.S. landscape against full-line behemoths like Chevrolet, Toyota and Ford by offering competent cars like the Impreza to consumers who want reliable, affordable, all-wheel-drive vehicles.
Consumers like Mrs. Payne.
So when Subie comes to market with a new Impreza every five years, I get the chance to see the customer buying experience up close and personal. When the 2024 Impreza arrived in my driveway this June, my wife wanted to put it through the paces on a road trip to Ontario, where I would be racing sports cars at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (or, simply, Mosport to race fans).
She was not just interested in the latest Subaru take on tech goo-gaws that her husband writes about all the time (big touchscreens, wireless Apple CarPlay, driver-assistance systems) but also whether the new model suffered from the same bug that has plagued her current 2017 car.
On the cusp of buying her third-generation Impreza, this is a make-or-break generation for my wife. While the Impreza has met her needs — to the point where she is a missionary for Subaru to friends and family — the ‘17 model has failed in one crucial area: it has an electronic hiccup that is driving her bonkers.
When left unattended for a few days, her Impreza Sport’s battery will drain — leaving her stranded at, say, the airport upon return from out of town. Ouch. After multiple visits to her dealer and multiple new batteries, the problem hasn’t been resolved.
Happily, the ‘24 Subie has improved other details that annoyed her. Kind of like upgrading the 20-year-old microwave in your kitchen that takes 15 minutes to heat leftover lasagna.
On I-94 east to the Port Huron crossing into Canada, Mrs. Payne activated adaptive cruise control (oh, she loves this feature) in the new Impreza and cruised along between 70 and 77 mph — adjusting the speed with a simple toggle on the steering wheel. That’s a noted upgrade from the ‘17 feature that would speed up in 5 mph increments. Want to adjust in 1 mph increments? That requires an awkward, loooooong button hold. It drove her batty.
Problem solved. On such little things does loyalty hang, and Mrs. Payne appreciated Subaru’s attention to details. It was like product managers had been listening in on to our conversations for five years.
Motorheads like me like to buy different stuff — the most wicked-looking sports car here, the latest self-driving EV there — and my influence on my wife’s buying habits is not trivial. I’ve been an Impreza WRX and STI fanboy for years, and my wife — who still prefers sedans over SUVs — knew that I was impressed with Subaru’s performance engineering. She also knew I wouldn’t let a Subaru into our house until they hired a competent design team — which they finally did for the fourth-gen 2012 Impreza.
But fundamentally, she wants an appliance that fits her life. All-wheel drive that gets her up the driveway in January, heated seats for Michigan winters, a hatchback to fit our luggage when we go up north after winter finally ends.
She liked the modest tweaks designers had made for the ‘24 hatchback, like the frameless grille inspired by an athletic shoe. But she was more impressed by the redesigned center console, which replaced the hand brake with an e-brake to open up room for staggered cupholders, and a wireless charger so she could navigate with wireless Apple CarPlay.
Now we’re talking. No more wires crisscrossing the console. No phone-draining battery while navigating for hours. Mrs. Payne simply set our destination to Bowmanville, Ontario, on her phone and the car automatically picked it up on Impreza’s new 11.6-inch vertical screen.
As she chugged across Canada in wireless adaptive-cruise heaven, I related to her that we were driving the Impreza RS.
“It’s a new model featuring a 2.5-liter Boxer-4 engine with 30 more horsepower than the standard 152-horse, 2.0-liter engine it carried over from your Sport model and, um . . . ”
Too much motorhead talk. She hadn’t noticed the power difference. Didn’t care. What did matter to her was that the cabin was quieter and the continuously-variable transmission improved from last gen, making for smooth acceleration as she merged into traffic on Canada’s 401 highway.
Which is why Subaru has made evolutionary drivetrain changes for 2024. Consumers are content with its performance, reliability, 29 mpg efficiency. Which is why government mandates to force Subaru to go electric (along with the rest of the industry) make little sense to Subaru’s core customers.
Fuel was never an issue during our 800-mile, five-day round trip. We made a single fuel stop for five minutes at a Petro Canada next to our hotel on Friday night. That’s all we needed (in addition to more power, the RS gets a bigger gas tank for 2024 and a 100-mile increase in gas range to 564 miles). A year ago, we thought about driving my Tesla Model 3 to Mosport but abandoned the idea because recharging would have added significant inconvenience to a tightly timed weekend in Bowmanville — a town that does not have fast chargers where we could charge overnight.
Instead, we drove a Volvo XC90 plug-in tester in 2023 (reviewed here) so we could use the gas engine on the long trip — and the 23-mile reserve battery for local trips from our hotel to the race track. We plugged in every night on a 110-volt charger in a nearby Hyundai dealer, but the battery wasn’t nearly enough to make the daily 44-mile round-trip to the track and back.
Running back and forth to the charger each night made Mrs. Payne wonder what made the $84,000 Volvo a better appliance than the $28,000 Subaru.
Speaking of battery issues, the 12-volt lead acid battery will dog my wife’s purchase of the new 2024 model. Will the 12-volt system have the same drain as her current Subie? Will the residual trade-in be hurt by the Impreza’s battery issue?
The questions led her to shop the compact car market (no EVs on her list), but the AWD choices are few. VW’s Golf-based AWD AllTrack has exited the market, which leaves only the Mazda3 Turbo.
Motorheads like me love the Mazda but its small, remote touchscreen is a turn-off to my wife — especially now that the new Impreza Sport comes standard with the big touchscreen. The Impreza’s rear seat/cargo room is also bigger than the Mazda to hold more Paynes and their stuff.
The new ‘Ru isn’t perfect — budget constraints mean the backup camera doesn’t sound an audible as it approaches an object, and there is no heated steering wheel option. Mrs. Payne had hoped for both. But overall she liked the upgrades to her microwave — er, auto — appliance.
And we didn’t experience an overnight battery drain. Looks like Subie still has a loyal customer.
Next week: 2023 BMW 760i
2024 Subaru Impreza
Vehicle type: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive, five-passenger hatchback
Price: $24,085 base including $1,095 destination ($29,239 RS as tested)
Power plant: 2.0-liter Boxer 4-cylinder; 2.5-liter Boxer 4-cylinder
Power: 152 horsepower, 145 pound-feet of torque (2.0L); 182 horsepower, 178 pound-feet of torque (2.5L)
Transmission: Continuously-variable
Performance: 0-60 mph, 8.2 seconds (Car and Driver est.); gas range, 564 miles
Weight: 3,275 pounds (as tested)
Fuel economy: EPA 27 mpg city/34 mpg highway/30 mpg combined (2.0L); 26 mpg city/33 mpg highway/29 mpg combined (2.5L)
Report card
Highs: Rare all-wheel-drive compact sedan; upgraded screen/tech
Lows: No heated steering wheel; no backup camera audible
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne
Payne: Ford Performance 700 F-150 is Frankenstein’s monster
Posted by Talbot Payne on September 8, 2023
Pontiac — If the Mustang GT500 and F-150 Raptor R F-150 had a child, it would be called the Ford Performance 700 F-150.
This insane, supercharged 700-horsepower V8-powered pickup could star in “Meg 2: The Trench.” Or maybe “Oppenheimer.” It’s a nuclear bomb strapped to a Ford F-150 chassis. Fishtailing onto M1 Concourse’s back straight, I dropped the hammer and hung on for dear life. The three-ton beast exploded down the straightaway — the speedometer mercifully limited to 110 mph before we took off for the moon. Or before the Goodyear Grabber tires vaporized off the 22-inch wheels — whichever comes first.
That’s right, I took an F-150 to the race track. Apparently, Ford found that making a 700-horsepower supercharged $109K Raptor R off-road hellion wasn’t enough to satisfy buyers’ appetites for all things V-8. Ford says the future is electric pickups, which is like Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse introducing a vegan menu. They know their customers still come for the red meat.
Indeed, the Ford Performance 700 package was introduced at the annual Carlisle Ford Nationals red meat-fest in Pennsylvania this June amongst a celebration of Ford hot rods, aftermarket mod shops, drag racers and more. If my week with the Meg is any indication — it should sell like hot cakes. Make that hot steaks.
My friend Kevin took one look at my Regular Cab two-door stealth weapon and called his dealer on the spot.
Order: I want a standard $40K XLT pickup with extra beef, quad pipes and a side of 22s.
Dealer: Boom. Done. That’ll be 67 grand.
Ka-ching.
Ford must have been sick of seeing all that V-8 accessory business going out the door to Hennessey, Saleen and Roush. So it’s made the FP700 package available on any F-150 trim. You read that right, any trim you want. XL, XLT, Lariat, Platinum. Rear-wheel or all-wheel drive.
Plenty of upscale customers who could afford a $109,145 Raptor R — but who don’t want the rugged, look-at-me off-road wardrobe — will opt for, say a loaded $66,650 Platinum Crew Cab stuffed with the smokin’ supercharged V-8 FP700 package. For such customers, adding $27,000 — $12,350 for the engine plus installation — will be pocket-change totaling $93,000-plus.
But if you don’t have that kind of coin, then outfitting a base F-150 is not only half the price of a Raptor R — but a serious, muscle-car-slayin’ sleeper supertruck.
The Ford Performance 700 Regular Cab was the first time I have taken a pickup on the track. The closest thing to that was a Dodge Durango SRT that I terrorized Indianapolis Motor Speedway with a few years ago. The Ford Meg was surprisingly manageable around M1’s technical 1.5-mile course. Credit the two-door’s relative light weight, rear-wheel drive and short wheelbase (you can only option a 5.5-foot bed) compared with the volume four-door Crew Cab F-150.
Bringing the cruise missile back to earth after the back straight was a challenge for the F-150’s standard brakes (the FP700 package is a drivetrain option only) and General Grabber tires, so driver beware. But the one suspension modification — a lowered rear end — seemed to keep the Meg planted through the long, almost-180-degree, Turn 7 right-hander. More impressive was that I could keep it floored through M1’s uphill Turn 8 right-hander — a test for any sports car — before I properly backed off for the 90-degree righthander to follow.
Light weight aside, the short wheelbase XLT model had its drawbacks — most obviously some serious rear tire squirm thanks to the solid rear axle. Outfitting my pickup with limited slip out back would make tight parking lot turns more comfortable. Hit the highway, however, and you can let the big boy roam.
I took the FP700 to the Celebrate Lutz event in Ypsilanti (it feels like something Maximum Bob would have designed, yes?) and it was no secret to some of the motorheads there.
“I heard you drive up. That’s the Ford Performance V-8, isn’t it?” said one industry insider, his face lit up with a smile as wide as the Ford’s chrome fender.
For all of its grins, the FP700 demands respect. Put the similar 700-horse 5.2-liter V-8 in the Raptor R and it will hit 60 mph in an astonishing 3.7 seconds. My XLT can’t be far off, and the truck gulped traffic on I-696 like a killer whale devouring goldfish.
Triple-digit speeds come in a hurry in a truck that, remember, is still sitting on stock suspension.
Beyond the visceral thrills, the FP700 pack comes in two flavors: Black Edition (mine) and Bronze Edition. The Black features black wheels and graphics, the Bronze boasts appropriately colored accents. Both come with the aforementioned 22s, rear lowering kit, a black painted grille, fender vents and special graphics. Other available goodies include sport exhaust, roof spoiler, tailgate spoiler and tires to wrap around the big wheels. While the pickup lacks rear seats, it boasts a healthy 8,200-pound towing capacity.
I figured my $48,000 XLT — which included features like adaptive cruise control and 360-degree camera — pushed $76K when outfitted with the FP700 package. While that’s a bargain compared to a 700-horsepower Raptor R, it’s only about five grand shy of the standard 450-horse, turbo-V6, terrain-chewing Raptor supertruck, which is loaded with SuperCrew cabin and top-line F-150 interior amenities.
Dealer installation means the pickup is, like its F-150 stablemates, backed by Ford’s full 3-year/36,000 mile warranty. So don’t be shy with your right lead foot when you pull up next to a 495-horse Corvette at a Woodward stoplight.
Next week: 2024 Subaru Impreza
2023 Ford Performance 700 F-150
Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, five-passenger pickup
Price: Estimated $75,775 as tested ($48,755 XLT plus estimated $27,000 FP700 dealer upgrade)
Powerplant: Supercharged 5.0-liter V-8
Power: 700 horsepower, 590 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, NA; top speed, 110 mph; towing, 8,200 pounds
Weight: NA
Fuel economy: 10 city/15 highway/12 combined (Detroit News estimate)
Report card
Highs: Sleeper truck; Raptor R power for two-thirds the price
Lows: Lacks amenities of a $70K truck; nearly as expensive as a V-6 Raptor
Overall: 3 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne
Payne: EV or gas car? The cost of refueling in Michigan
Posted by Talbot Payne on September 5, 2023
Charlevoix — Electric vehicles are flooding the market this summer just as Michigan gas prices have hit a $3.86 high for 2023. While customers see EV costs and charging infrastructure as barriers to purchase, a recent study from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago and the Associated Press–NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 74% of Americans say saving money on gas is a major reason they’d consider purchasing a battery-powered vehicle.
But are EVs cheaper to fuel than their gasoline-fired counterparts? The Detroit News went on the road to find out.
Much of the answer depends on how you use your vehicle, so The News compared refueling costs both for road trips as well as daily commutes. EV early adopters tend to come from higher income households with multiple vehicles and a garage. Electrics are typically used for daily commutes and are refueled overnight from the utility-run, AC electric grid, while companion gas-powered cars are used for road trips. Single-vehicle households, on the other hand, use their EVs as multi-purpose mules — charging on higher-cost, DC fast-charging stations near the nation’s highways as well as plugging in locally on AC outlets.
I drove four different cars to north Michigan and back — a 500-mile round trip — in addition to extended driving around Metro Detroit to compare costs: an electric-powered, $57,410, 2022 Kia EV6 and $60,000, 2019 Tesla Model 3; and gas-powered, 2017, $28,000 Subaru Impreza and 2024, $44,160 Dodge Hornet. All are similarly-sized, all-wheel-drive models.
The Tesla was the cheapest at $50 for the 500-mile round-trip thanks to a 30 cents per kWh charging cost at its proprietary Superchargers in Meijer parking lots along I-75. Tesla rates can be highly variable from 25-43 cents-per-kWh depending on location.
The Kia EV, on the other hand, was—along with the Hornet—the most expensive of the four cars to refuel since it relies on third-party, fast chargers that range from 40-48 cents per kWh hour to recharge (Rivian vehicles, like Tesla, have exclusive access to a Rivian network along the route). I used Electrify America fast chargers, the nation’s largest fast charger network outside of Tesla, that services all-comers with a CCS charging port. EA’s charging network has followed Tesla’s into similar shopping centers and this year upped its cost from 43 cents/kWh to 48 cents.
The Kia cost $80 to charge on the round trip which would be similar to EVs from other brands like the Cadillac Lyriq, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Ford F-150 Lightning pickup and BMW iX.
The gas-powered Impreza and Hornet cost $67 and $80, respectively, filling up on $3.99 regular gas. The Impreza slurped 30 mpg and the Hornet 25 mpg.
It should be noted the EV vs. gas journeys were very different. Due to their inferior range and refueling ability, the EVs take more trip planning.
“We have built a world around driving gas vehicles. Driving an EV is a lifestyle change,” said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions. “You have to plug it overnight when you get to your destination, then unplug it when you leave. You have to plan road trips around chargers so that you get a bite to eat while you charge for 20 minutes.”
Whereas I only refilled the gas pair once on the 500-mile round trip, I had to stop and fuel the EVs three times each. The Subaru has a range of 462 miles — nearly enough to make the entire round trip before a short, five-minute refueling stop. Depending on speed, I found the Subie’s range could vary by about 12% (30 mpg instead of 34 mpg).
The Tesla EV, by contrast, had much greater range variability — losing up to 30% of range, for example, if I traveled at 80 mph on I-75 instead of 70. That means its 300-mile range may not be enough to get to the destination. What’s more, EVs — unlike gas cars — fill up much more slowly (think a mug of beer) once you reach over 80% of capacity. And when I got to Charlevoix, my charging options were limited. So I stopped twice on the way north for a total of 45 minutes — and then again on the way back.
“The physics of a battery is that it’s not going to give you 300 miles in five minutes,” said Fiorani. “Society is going to have to sacrifice in order to make (the EV) transition. This is not a full step forward like other consumer product advances — people are going to notice the negatives.”
The best way to travel is to make sure your destination (hotel, friend’s home) has a 240-volt charger so you can charge at your destination. Just like home.
It’s local commuting where the EV really shines.
The cost of fueling the Subaru (30 mpg) and Hornet (24 mpg) were nearly the same whether commuting or traveling. The EVs, on the other hand, got much more efficient when home charging on a 240-volt outlet (same voltage as a dryer).
If I home-charged the Tesla at DTE Energy’s overnight, 15 cents-per-kWh off-peak rate, a 50-mile round trip to The Detroit News downtown office would cost just $2.50, or a total of $12.50 a week. The Impreza, on the other hand, would cost $6.66 a day for a total of $33 a week.
As with long-distance travel, there is a wrinkle. A typical charger-plus-installation at a home runs about $2,000. So an EV would take about two years to get the charger cost back in fuel savings. And the $10,000 premium of an all-wheel-drive Model 3 would take about 10 years to make back over a similarly-equipped Impreza Sport.
The refueling advantage of an EV lies in the assumption that owners have access to a garage at work or home.
“While there is plenty of interest in purchasing an electric vehicle, the high upfront cost of owning one and concerns about the country’s charging infrastructure are barriers to more people driving them,” said Jennifer Benz, deputy director of the AP-NORC Center. “Policies that alleviate these concerns will be a key component of building support for an EV future.”
Accordingly, automakers target higher-income demographics for EV sales. There are more EV options in the market, with 30% of new vehicle offerings this year being electric. According to data from Cox Automotive, the average EV transaction price was $53,469 in July compared to $48,334 for gas chariots. Apple to apples, EVs are much pricier than their segment counterparts. A 2024 Chevrolet Blazer EV, for example, starts at $56,715 — about $20,000 north of its gas-fired stablemate. Automakers say such premiums are mostly due to battery cost.
Governments from Washington, D.C., to California are targeting the elimination of gas-engine sales by 2035. To help EV adoption, many states are offering tax discounts in addition to the federal tax credit of $7,500 which the Tesla qualifies for since it is Made in the USA (the Korean-made Kia does not). Leading the way is Colorado with a $5,000 EV state credit that is due to expand to $19,000 later this year. Michigan does not have a state tax credit for EVs.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne
Payne: Cruisin’ Plum Crazy in the last Charger Hellcat
Posted by Talbot Payne on August 24, 2023
Birmingham — It was a Plum Crazy Dream Cruise week.
I drove a Plum Crazy-painted 2023 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody Jailbreak on Woodward all weekend. Plum Crazy fun to drive. And it’s Plum Crazy that this is the last year Dodge will sell this popular, iconic popular sedan.
If Corvette is Cruise King, then the Charger Widebody (and its Challenger sibling) is the Duke of Brawn. As I drove up and down Metro Detroit’s main street last week, few sedans had more presence. Widebody fenders like Dwayne Johnson biceps, dish wheels like Captain America’s shield, sinister LED running lights.
No one was more entertained than young kids. In Pontiac Cruise traffic, I saw the eyes of two boys in a pickup bed widen at the sight of the Purple People Eater on their bumper. Their fingers formed spinning air wheels and I obliged by shoving the Hellcat’s T-shifter into NEUTRAL, then revving the engine.
WHEEEERAWWWRRR! WHEEEERAWWWRRR! WHEEEERAWWWRRR!
The Hellcat’s sinister combination of supercharger and V-8 was intoxicating. More so with open road in front of it. Stoplight challenges from Mustangs, Camaros (even V6-powered Chargers wanting to know how they measured up to Brother Hellcat) invariably ended with their doors blown off into the grass. Plum Crazy.
Since it was introduced in 2015, the Dodge SRT Hellcat has captivated American enthusiasts. It reduced a pack of media to giggling children at its first Challenger coupe test at Portland International Speedway. With more power than Thor and that shrieking, supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi V-8 sending chills up your spine, naming these beasts after a kitty seemed an understatement. Was Godzilla copyrighted? Kraken not available? Smaug?
“The Hellcat has 650 pound-feet of torque,” said Dodge ringleader Tim Kuniskis at the time. “Top speed of 182 mph. Quarter-mile in 11.2 seconds. It’s loud, obnoxious, pure evil.”
And pure gold for Dodge. SRT Hellcat did the improbable: carrying Challenger to No. 1 in segment sales over the iconic Mustang and Camaro. I’ve always preferred the Charger sedan version because I’m a family man: with four doors, you could pick up the kids at school during the day, do launch controls out of Woodward stoplights by night.
No wonder Charger outsells Challenger 3:2, maintaining 80,00-90,000 in annual sales for the last nine years even as other sedans disappeared from the landscape. Kuniskis and his elves kept hammering out new, more outrageous models — Demon, Redeye, Jailbreak (which unlocks a flood of custom options) — dressed in outrageous colors: Destroyer Gray, Go Mango, Sinamon Stick, Sublime, Plum Crazy.
The SRT lineup peaked with the limited-edition, 1,025-horse Challenger Demon 170 that only a lucky few will own. One of them is Jay Leno, who picked up the keys for his 170 at Vinsetta Garage on Aug. 19 to kick off the Cruise.
I asked the comedian what other models in his 180-car, $52 million collection had over 1,000 horsepower. He rattled off four hot-rod mods like the biofuel EcoJet and a Rolls Royce Merlin-powered Franken-Bentley. But the Dodge was the only production car to achieve that distinction.
Heady stuff, but my base 717-horse Charger SRT Hellcat Jailbreak will do just fine, thank you. I chased Leno and Kuniskis up Woodward to Pasteiner’s hobby shop and I swear my Charger got more looks. Paint it green and you’d swear it was the Hulk.
My customized $89,907 model came standard with the latest electronic goodies embedded in a distinct, bezeled carbon-fiber dash display that stands out in this day of hoodless tablet screens.
With goodies like Android Auto, audio controls on the back of the steering wheel, shift paddles, blind-spot assist, and rear-backup assist, Charger lacked few of the gizmos found on the $153,000, 617-horsepower twin-turbo-V8-powered BMW M8 that was also in my driveway for Cruise week.
“Which one shall we take to Woodward?” I asked my motorhead son, who was in town. “We’d be Plum Crazy not to take the Hellcat,” he smiled.
Alas, the killjoys in Washington, D.C., have decided Dodge V-8s are mortal enemies of the polar bear. The last Hellcat will roll off the assembly line in Brampton, Ontario, at the end of this year lest Dodge incur the wrath of the pencil pushers (by the way, if you don’t have $90K laying around, let me recommend the $56K Scat Pack. Same Widebody. Same 20-inch wheels. Same Plum Crazy paint).
If only I could have taken the bureaucrats for a ride in the country.
Midweek, I took Hulk up north to M-32 (the gas guzzler’s 18.5-gallon tank meant I had over 300 miles of range), where the beast proved it could tap dance through the twisties as well as obliterate spotlights. Tap the SRT button on the center console and a menu of Drive Mode options appears. I haven’t seen so much red meat since I ate at Fleming’s.
AUTO mode is muscle enough, but TRACK mode takes Hulk to another level.
The suspension noticeably stiffened. Did it paw the earth as I aimed it at M-32? I destroyed a set of S-bends, the 4,500-pound chassis glued to the pavement before torching a short straight leading to another suite of bends. A special nod goes to the widebody fenders, which allow wider 12-inch Pirelli P Zero tires versus the standard body’s 10.8-inchers.
Upshifts were brutal, however, belting me in the back. Electronics to the rescue again. I pulled to the side of the road and accessed CUSTOM mode. I selected TRACK settings for everything but the transmission, which I kept in STREET mode. Much better. Hulk continued to bound through the countryside but without knotting my spine with each upshift. As I grew comfortable with the eight-speed gearbox, paddle shifters worked nicely too.
All this on a dated 2005 chassis. Imagine what Hellcat could have accomplished had Dodge been updated like other sports cars in recent years — BMW M, Ford Mustang, Toyota Supra — with the latest metallurgy and tech.
So the sun sets on the 28th annual Woodward Dream Cruise — and the last model year Challenger and Chargers. They will live on at the Cruise for years to come, their muscled torsos a reminder of the second golden era of V-8 muscle cars.
My son and I swapped the driver’s seat so he could enjoy Hellcat launch control. WHEEEERAWWWRRR! roared the engine as the 650 pound-feet of torque overwhelmed the rear tires and we laid a patch of rubber down a secondary road. Plum Crazy.
Next week: 2023 Ford Performance 700 HP Package F-150
2023 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody Jailbreak
Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive five-passenger sports sedan
Price: $81,150 base, including $1,595 destination ($89,907 as tested)
Power plant: Supercharged 6.2-liter V-8
Power: 717 horsepower, 650 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Performance: 0-60 mph, 3.5 seconds (Car and Driver); top speed, 196 mph
Weight: 4,594 pounds
Fuel economy: EPA est. 12 city/21 highway/15 combined
Report card
Highs: Bodybuilder good looks; visceral thrills all day long
Lows: No adaptive cruise control offered; pricier than a Corvette
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne
Payne: Some of my favorite things at the Woodward Dream Cruise
Posted by Talbot Payne on August 21, 2023
Detroit News Auto Critic Henry Payne spent Saturday at the Woodward Dream Cruise. Here are some of the cars, trucks and boats and shirts (no, not kidding about that last one) that caught his eye at Metro Detroit’s 28th annual autopalooza.
F1 on M-1
Just follow the kids. Buzz spread quickly on Woodward Saturday morning that there was a state-of-the-art, 2023 Formula One car on Woodward.
Sure enough, Golling’s Alfa Romeo Fiat auto dealership had brought in the brand’s C43 F1 chassis developed with Sauber Racing for the open-wheel racing series. The world’s premier motorsport, F1 has taken the U.S. by storm in recent years – three Grand Prix are on the 2023 calendar in Miami, Las Vegas, and Austin.
“We got it in the showroom from Aug. 14-26 to promote our new Tonale SUV,” said Golling General Manager James Houfley, 37, of Silver Lake, as families ogled the red racer. “This is the busiest I’ve ever seen it here during the Dream Cruise.”
Like the Tonale, the Alfa F1 car is a hybrid — the race car has a 1.6-liter V-6 engine mated to electric motors. Unlike Tonale, the carbon-fiber F1 car produces up to 1,000 horsepower. The show car, however, was a “roller” — stripped of its drivetrain for easy transport as a demo.
Vega muscle
From 1971-77, Chevrolet made the Vega subcompact to compete against Ford’s Pinto and the VW Beetle. It was praised for its sporty, hatchback styling and won Motor Trend’s 1971 Car of the Year. However, Motor Trend noted that its four-cylinder engine’s “power was meagre at highway speeds.”
So Erik Smith fixed it.
The 56-year old from West Bloomfield Township stuffed a 455-horsepower, 6.2-liter, LT1 eigne from a Corvette under its orange hood. Say hello to Chevy’s new muscle car.
Boats ‘n’ ice cream trucks
The Cruise has it all from muscle cars to off-roaders to ice cream trucks to boats — yes, boats.
The Detroit News couldn’t catch up to the boat on four wheels that cruised past in Birmingham, but we did chase down the Captain Kool 1998 Chevy Step Van that was selling ice cream up-and-down the strip.
Kelley Isaacs, 39, of Sterling Heights, has gotten a permit for Dream Cruise Saturday the last 13 years to drive the strip. The Chevy may not have a high-horsepower V-8 under the hood, but it has some tasty ice-cream treats in the back. The best-sellers? Drumsticks, Bomb Pops and Strawberry Shortcake pops.
Three wheelin’
Not everything was on four wheels at the Cruise. Slingshot three-wheelers have become commonplace, and this year Morgan added to the mix.
Nathan Struck, 22, of Rochester Hills was giving rides in the English brand’s latest three-wheeler, the 2025 Super Three.
Morgan has ben making three-wheelers sine 1911 and the wee Super 3 sports a 1.5-liter, 3-cylinder Ford Dragon engine and luggage racks on the rear — and sides! — to make up for its lack of internal cargo space. Priced from $73,000, the Morgan is marketed exclusively through Birmingham’s Auto Europe in Michigan.
A tee for thee
Birmingham —You could buy the Official 2023 Woodward Dream Cruise T-shirt this weekend. Or you could buy the official Pasteiner’s T-shirt.
The famed Woodward hobby store has been publishing its own Cruise T-shirt since 2000. But where the official Cruise shirt pictured a conventional graphic of a classic Detroit sedan, Pasteiner’s shirt featured a Lancia.
A what? The 1973-75 Lancia Stratos was an Italian-made mid-engine sports car purpose-built for rally racing. Only 500 production versions were made per the homologation requirements for racing. It dominated rally racing of the era, winning the World Rally Championship in 1974, 1975 and 1976. Good luck trying to find one today.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Dream Cruise 2023: Classic cars and their fans take over Woodward
Posted by Talbot Payne on August 21, 2023
Under clear blue skies, classic car lovers lived the dream Saturday on Woodward, with the 28th annual Dream Cruise in full swing from Ferndale to Pontiac from early morning past sunset.
Here are some of the sights (and sounds) from Metro Detroit’s yearly celebration of car culture, Motown muscle and the region’s rich automotive heritage.
Baby’s first Cruise
It was 13-month-old Walt Cragun’s first Woodward Dream Cruise, along with his parents Hannah and Chase. The family just moved to Farmington Hills from Las Vegas.
“I have a good friend who’s from Clinton and when I said, ‘what should we be looking out for when we move to Michigan? Where should we go?’ He said, ‘you can’t miss the Woodward Dream Cruise,'” Hannah Cragun, 28, said.
The family was particularly taken with Charlie Liles’ emerald green 1948 Ford F1 pickup truck, displayed in Royal Oak’s Memorial Park.
“I actually saw one of these 10 years ago in a mining town,” Cragun said. “(This one) was definitely more restored and beautiful.”
Liles, 66, has lived in Royal Oak his whole life and attended all 28 Dream Cruises.
“I’ve been cruising Woodward for 50 years,” he said.
Liles bought and restored the truck with his wife seven years ago.
“We drive it all over, it’s just a hobby, a fun truck,” he said.
Long live the 300
The Chrysler 300 ends production this year, but it will live on at the Cruise in the hands of enthusiasts like Mason Vetor.
The 22-year-old brought his wicked-looking, white, heavily modified 2018 300S to the Cruise this year. How wicked? He turned up the wick on the already robust Chrysler Hemi-V8’s 324 horsepower to 600 horses with mods like new headers and intake manifold to feed the beast under the hood. Well, if it had a hood.
“The intake manifold is so big I had to take the hood off,” said the Shelby Township resident. “It’s a pain to keep the engine clean, but it looks good.”
The mods don’t end at the engine. The Chrysler is lowered on custom gold Gray Star wheels, and the exhaust exits at the rear axles for added volume. Inside, Vetor added a blue “harness bar” for added chassis stiffening and deleted the rear seats. “Rear seats and passengers just add weight to the car.”
Better to blow the doors (and hood) off anything out of a Woodward stoplight.
A legacy on wheels
For some, like Len Palmeri, vintage cars serve as reminders of loved ones. Palmeri, 74, built his hot rod by hand with his father in 1969. The one-of-a-kind car is modeled after a 1929 Mercedes.
“The best gift my father could’ve ever given me was to help me build this car,” Palmeri said.
“I learned a lot from him and you carry those skills with you the rest of your life and carry the memories because he’s no longer with me.”
The car is priceless to Palmeri and contains custom details like the names and initials of his parents, Tony and Jean.
Catering to car lovers
Pasteiner’s has been a Cruise tradition since before the annual Woodward Dream Cruise became an official event nearly 30 years ago.
Opened in 1987 by Steve Pasteiner, the Birmingham hobby shop has been a favorite of motorheads ever since, and it is a regular stop on the cars ‘n’ coffee circuit every Saturday morning throughout the summer. For the Dream Cruise, the store steps it up a notch with an official Cruise T-shirt and catered hot dogs and other eats for the passing crowd. Its parking lot, of course, is packed on this Dream Cruise Saturday with toys from Dodge Vipers to old Model A Fords to Pastenier’s own creations like the Nomad and Helldorado.
“The Cruise has really evolved over the decades as it’s become more famous,” said Pasteiner, who is also president of Advanced Automotive Technologies and a regular judge of auto concours. “Now it’s much more international in terms of the variety of cars — and the people. I had a couple of customers come in here wearing cowboy hats and jeans — and they were French! Didn’t speak a word of English. The Cruise now attracts people from everywhere.”
Celebrities, too.
Comedian and talk show host Jay Leno popped into Pastenier’s Saturday morning to look around, as has Detroit native and comedian Tim Allen in the past. “But it’s the auto executives who are the true celebrities in my mind,” said Pasteiner. “Like Mark Reuss, Jim Farley, Bob Lutz — they come in and we just talk cars.”
Celebrity aside, Pastenier said the Cruise is special because you can talk with anyone about cars on Woodward, bond with them, and the next thing you know you’re best friends.
“It’s different than, say, a Pebble Beach concours (that took place this week in California),” he said. “People work on their own cars and bring them to the Cruise — at Pebble, the owners have someone else do that for them.”
Chevy meets half-Chevy
Ronald Page, 75, of Oak Park, Illinois, drove his 1960 Chevrolet Impala, a gleaming white convertible with warm red accents, to Metro Detroit for the Cruise.
The ride takes more than five hours, but it’s worth it to Page, who was waiting patiently to get a picture of an upside down van riding down Woodward.
He’s made the trek every year the cruise has been on since 2015. He does it for the people, the car camaraderie and the festivities.
“I mean, I meet so many different people from different walks of life,” he said.
This year, one of those people was Ted Zulkowski, 52, of Roseville, who parked his “Forvette” in front of Page’s classic.
The “Forvette” is half of a 2001 Chevrolet Corvette topped with a 1931 Ford Model A truck. Zulkowski and his father-in-law built the truck/car over a two-year period, even giving it air conditioning while also ensuring it had the horn and front pheasant ornament like the Model A.
The two had the Corvette and then found the truck in a field “and wanted to … bring it back to life,” Zulkowski said. “So we grabbed the tractor and pulled it out of the field and there’s where we started.”
Classics present and past
Tom Psilles owns a pristine 2005 Chevy Corvette C5, is a past president of the American Corvette Club, and has been coming to the club’s Dream Cruise paddock in the Walgreen’s parking lot in Birmingham for 22 years.
But his wife, Joan, 78, had the couple’s first classic.
She bought one of the first, 1964½ Ford Mustang coupes when it hit dealer lots nearly six decades ago. “It cost me $2,100 and I remember wondering if I’d be able to make the payments on it,” she smiled while watching cruisers stream by in front of the pharmacy.
She sold it a few years later (“It was just daily transportation then”), but when she and Psilles decided to buy a 1960s collector car 25 years ago, they started looking for Mustangs. Instead, a 1961 Corvette caught their eye. They restored it down to the floorboards, cruised the wheels off it, then turned it around for a handsome sum.
Still enamored of ‘Vettes, they drive the C5 now. “I love the styling,” said Tom. “And it’s comfortable. We go to Tucson every winter and we’ve taken the Corvette on the trip there and back.”
A Demonic possession
For a second straight year, car collector Leno took part in the Dream Cruise. At the 2022 event, he unveiled a special version of Ford Motor Co.’s all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup with a custom paint job designed in tribute to a 1970s F-150 once owned by Walmart founder Sam Walton.
This year’s visit was all about gas-fueled, V-8-powered muscle, as the former longtime “Tonight Show” host became the first buyer to take possession of a “Last Call” Dodge Challenger SRT 170 Demon. It’s one of 3,000 1,025-horsepower beasts being unleashed as Dodge ends production of its internal combustion engine muscle cars.
Leno took the wheel of his Octane Red model at Vinsetta Garage in Berkley and pulled out onto Woodward Saturday morning, followed in a black Demon by Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis.
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Dream Cruise Eve: Woodward Avenue comes alive
Posted by Talbot Payne on August 18, 2023
Pontiac — Farms have roosters, the Dream Cruise has V-8s.
WAAAUUGGGHHH! A sinister black Pontiac GTO lit up the asphalt at the Woodward and Long Lake stoplight as cruisers woke up with the sun for Dream Cruise Friday. From Pontiac to Bloomfield Hills, cruisers mixed with commuter traffic as clubs set up tents, Corvette celebrated its 70th anniversary at M1 Concourse, and diehards claimed their desired parking spots.
Tom Paletti, 70, of Macomb Township arrived at Woodward and Square Lake at 6 a.m. in his 421-cubic inch, V8-powered 1966 Pontiac Ventura monster to secure his spot in front of Kerby’s Koney Island. He sat in a lawn chair watching the passing parade with his buddy Terry King, 72, of Chesterfield Township and his bright yellow 1973 Camaro Z28.
More:Here’s your guide to the 2023 Woodward Dream Cruise
“We used to get up at 4 a.m. to get a spot at the Dodge display at 13 and Woodward, but then Beaumont bought that property and the cops won’t let you park there anymore,” said Paletti, sitting in his lawn chair watching the passing parade of cars. “Kerby’s doesn’t mind. We hang out here all week — we like talking with car people.”
At the corner of Woodward and Whitemore in downtown Pontiac, a lone, bright orange 1955 Chevy 210 sat in the lush lawn like a four-wheel safety cone.
Behind the wheel (and the 350-cube V-8) sat Bruce Larkin, 63. “I took the day off, had breakfast, now I’m just hanging out before I put up my tents,” said the Waterford Township resident and member of the North Oakland Bowtie Club that sets up at this corner each year.
“The Pit Stop food truck over there will open up from 5-8 p.m. for dinner and we’ll get about 20 cars today,” he said. “On Saturday this whole lot will be packed with probably 100 cars.”
Further south in Pontiac, M1 Concourse was alive with activity as the car club’s annual Woodward Dream Show celebrates the 70th birthday of Corvette this year. The parking lot next to the property’s event center was full of Corvettes staging for a midday photo shoot.
“We have a Corvette from every year that Corvette has been made, from 1953 on,” said M1 CEO Tim McGrane. “We even have a 1983 Corvette — one of the rarest Corvettes in existence.”
That’s because 1983 was the only year in its history that Corvette didn’t go into production. Just 43 ‘Vettes were made before Chevy pulled the plug on production, with General Motors choosing to wait until 1984 to introduce its all-new 4th generation car. All but one of the 1983 Corvettes was crushed — save for No. 23, which was preserved and now calls the Corvette Museum in Kentucky home.
M1 managed to get it to the Dream Cruise — the first time the rare car has ever left Bowling Green. For $25, the public can come by the Dream Show from noon-8 p.m. Friday and all day Saturday beginning at 8 a.m. The 65th anniversary of the Ram Charger is also being celebrated.
Werner Meier, 72, worked for GM from 1969-2002 and was instrumental in pulling the Corvette celebration together. “For our photo shoot with all the cars here, we have eight white Corvettes representing each generation of Corvette. They will be in the front of the photo.” One of the eight will be Meier’s 1953 Corvette, one of only about 300 made.
The Dream Cruise and charity also go hand in hand. The D-Man Foundation is set up at the corner of Woodward and Long Lake to give hot rides to underprivileged kids and adults.
Mary Anne Pacheco, 67, of Canton Township was out early Friday prepping the parking lot — including the tent under which paraplegics and others with serious diseases are lifted into convertibles and other high-horsepower cruisers brought by volunteers for a thrilling ride down Woodward.
“This is our 11th year,” said Pacheco in front of a ferocious, 2024, Plum Crazy purple, 807-horsepower, supercharged, 6.2-liter V-8 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Demon Jailbreak. “Saturday just gets too crowded out on Woodward so we are here on Friday from 1-4 p.m. for every Dream Cruise. We run rides like clockwork.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Wild horse: 800-hp, $300k Mustang GTD track beast takes aim at Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Posted by Talbot Payne on August 18, 2023
Mustang is saddling up to take on Europe’s elite sports cars.
Ford Motor Co. took the wraps off Thursday of a track-focused, 800-plus horsepower, estimated-$300,000 supercar version of the seventh-generation Mustang at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Badged the Mustang GTD, it will compete with European track weapons like the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, Mercedes AMG GT Black and Aston Martin Vulcan.
The carbon-fiber-skinned pony was developed by Ford racing partner Multimatic and contains many of the elements of Ford’s GT3 race car that will debut at IMSA’s Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona next January — including a huge rear swan wing and rear-mounted transmission. The GTD badge is a reference to IMSA’s GTD race class that the race car will compete in.
Like the 2019 Multimatic-developed, mid-engine Ford GT Mk II, the 2025 GTD will be available as a limited-edition model late in 2024.
“This is something that’s been in my head for five decades,” said Ford CEO Jim Farley, who moonlights as an amateur race driver. “The GTD takes on the best sports cars in the world.”
Such track-focused weapons have typically come out of the stables of exotic makers. The winged McLaren Senna, for example, cost $1.1 million and the Aston Martin Vulcan — of which just 24 copies were made — cost $2.3 million. The Mustang sets its sights on the Porsche GT3 RS, a similarly-priced beast that set the Nürburgring track record earlier this year.
The Mustang’s sophisticated aerodynamics, suspension and engine are optimized to clock similar, eye-watering, sub-7 minute Nürburgring times.
The GTD sports a similar-displacement, supercharged, 5.2-liter engine as Ford’s last-generation, 760-horsepower Shelby Mustang GT500, but the engine is otherwise bespoke to GTD. To attain its 800-plus horsepower (the most by a production ‘Stang ever) the beast is fed with dual air inlets with a 7,500 RPM redline, houses a carbon-fiber driveshaft, and is outfitted with a dry-sump oil system to keep the engine lubricated during sustained high-g-load cornering. Available is a titanium active valve exhaust system for maximum ear-splitting terror.
That beastly powerplant is mated to a dual-clutch, 8-speed transmission mounted in the rear of the car for 50-50 weight balance. The rear transaxle transmission is a first for Mustang.
Ford draws on the racing experience of Canada’s Multimatic, which builds the Mustang GT3 and GT4 race cars for competition. Multimatic also built the $500,000 mid-engine Ford GT beginning in 2016 and provides the chassis for race teams like Porsche-Penske’s 963 IMSA porotype.
“We did some radical things with the GTD,” said Larry Holt, Multimatic executive vice president for special vehicle operations. “Inboard front suspension, titanium exhaust, magnesium wheels and the gearbox in the rear of the car. The Mustang GTD sets a new benchmark for roadgoing racers.”
The GTD will start life at the Ford Flat Rock Assembly Plant and then be transported to Multimatic facilities in Markham, Canada, where the auto supplier’s elves will work their magic.
Engineered for the street and track, the GTD is outfitted with two suspension settings. In track mode, the Mustang can be lowered by over 1.5 inches to maximize aerodynamic efficiency.
For maximum stick through corners, the Mustang boasts Michelin Cup 2 tires. They measure 12.8 inches in the front (the width of the Ford GT’s rear tires) and 13.6 inches in the rear. Unlike the GT3 racer’s wheels, which are limited to 18-inch rims, the GTD’s rubber will be wrapped around 20-inch forged aluminum wheels or available forged magnesium wheels. Special, spool-valve Multimatic shocks at all four corners will help the car read the road.
Such engineering sophistication is clearly aimed at the $240k Porsche’ GT3 RS, long considered the segment’s banchmark. The Porsche features similar dry-sump engine and aerodynamic tweaks — though mere 12-inch rear and 10.8-inch front Michelin Cup 2 tires and 518 horsepower.
The GT3 RS, in the hands of legendary racer Jorg Bergmeister, conquered the 14-mile Nürburgring course in 6 minutes, 49 seconds last spring — a record for normally-aspirated cars. With another 300 horses thanks to its supercharger, the GTD may well eclipse the Porsche.
Aerodynamic tricks include center-mounted front springs to aid front downforce, and active front splitter — the latter illegal in IMSA racing. Also illegal in IMSA racing are the car’s carbon ceramic brakes.
For all its racing design, the cockpit is finished in premium materials including Miko suede, leather and carbon fiber. Displays are all-digital and front passengers sit in form-fitting Recaro seats. Only plan on bringing one passenger to the track, though. The GTR will delete its rear seat to save weight.
“This is our company, we’re throwing down the gauntlet and saying, ‘Come and get it,’” said Farley. “We’re comfortable putting everybody else on notice. I’ll take track time in a Mustang GTD against any other auto boss in their best road car.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
American sports cars rule the Dream Cruise, but they’re an endangered species
Posted by Talbot Payne on August 18, 2023
Birmingham — The Woodward Dream Cruise is a celebration of the automobile. Classic, tail-finned Cadillacs, chopped hot rods, cute VW Bugs, jacked pickup trucks, elegant convertibles. They all swim down Woodward in a colorful, diverse school.
But the undisputed alpha predators of the Cruise are American sports cars. They dominate the strip with their reptilian roars. They explode out of stoplights, and wow with alluring colors, hood scoops and designs ranging from sleek to sinister.
And they are an endangered species.
This year marks the end of production for the iconic Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger muscle cars. Pontiac, which produced Dream Cruise regulars like the Firebird, Solstice and Fiero — was long ago put out to pasture. The Dodge Viper? History. Only the Ford Mustang and Corvette supercar will be left after 2023.
There are foreign-brand sports cars to be sure. Unattainable, six-figure European exotics from McLaren, Porsche, and Ferrari attract the big money crowd while sub-$100k coupes like the Porsche 718 Boxster/Cayman and BMW 2-series sell well. More affordable Japanese hellions like the Toyota GR 86, Subaru BRZ, Mazda MX5 Miata, Toyota Supra, and Nissan Z march on. Nissan even showed the Z NISMO to media at this week’s Cruise.
“It’s sad, it’s not right,” said Waterford Township’s Donna Carrel, 60, next to the V8-powered 2014 Camaro SS that she and her husband own. “Detroit sports cars might come back later after electric vehicles are all in the graveyard.”
The electric age has forced hard decisions on automakers as they gird for a future in which governments mandate the powertrains they sell. Selling small-volume, low-MPG sports cars is risky. Dodge has already been docked over $700 billion by the U.S. government for selling gas-guzzling V-8s, and its popular Challenger coupe and Charger sedan models have been thrown to the wolves.
“The death of American performance cars reflects American car companies overreacting to the latest trends,” said veteran auto analyst and sports car collector Karl Brauer of iSeeCars. “Automakers are often driven by government regulation — yet another organization that chases fads. The Challenger is a good example. It has been well-received by its growing fan base since launching in 2008, but Dodge is still canceling it due to government fines levied on each one sold.”
Veteran Cruisers have seen this movie before. In the 1970s, federal fuel economy laws, high gas prices and clean air regulations conspired to cripple American muscle cars. Engines in the Mustang, Camaro and Challenger, for example, shrank to 4 cylinders, while Charger disappeared entirely — not to be seen again until the early 2000s. Camaro hung on through 2002, then disappeared until being revived for the 2010 model year. Only Mustang has been continuously produced since its 1965 birth.
“Government regulators have done this before,” said John Pertolone, 71, of Sterling Heights, waxing philosophically in front of his silver-and-black-striped 2009 Dodge Challenger. “The manufacturers will electrify them and bring them back.”
His buddy and 1968 Camaro owner Paul Zimmerman, 65, wasn’t buying that vision. “If they are stupid enough to go EV with these cars, then it’s not going to be worth it.”
Mustang is the exception to the U.S. sports car trend, as Ford introduced an all-new Mustang this year complete with V8-powered GT and performance model Dark Horse. The Blue Oval has been savvy about selling electric Mustang Mach-E SUVs and F-150 Lightning pickups to satisfy government sales targets in order to maintain production of its precious pony car.
In Birmingham, Raj Cho, 25, ogled a smoldering, Blue Ember Dark Horse — the first 500-horse version of the ‘Stang’s legendary Coyote V-8. Cho had brought his own 2019 Mustang GT to cruise Woodward. He loves his gas-fed pony, but looks forward to an EV future of electric muscle.
“EVs are so much better to drive,” smiled the native Detroiter. “I won’t get one right now, but maybe in 20 years. The Dream Cruise will always be alive. There will be a point where everyone will want EVs, but gas-powered classics won’t die out here on the street.”
Darren Roberts, 49, of Lincoln Park sees the demise of gas-fired American muscle as inevitable given government regulatory pressures. “But there are just a many environmental negatives for batteries as there are for internal combustion engines,” he said, standing next to his impeccable 2011 Camaro SS on Woodward.
That said, he hopes that U.S. automakers will make a serious effort to make electric sports cars for enthusiasts like him. “If they bring a Camaro back as an EV, then it has to look like a sports car. It has to look that part.”
But while American sports cars may be in flux, there is no dearth of sports cars on the market. And not just unattainable, $200,000-plus exotics like the odd McLaren 720S or Lamborghini Aventador that swagger down Woodward.
Sub-$100,000, petrol-fueled Japanese coupes are plentiful in the auto market, including all-new offerings this model year from Toyota and Nissan. Indeed, Nissan showed off the Z’s NISMO performance variant for media Monday night. With 420 horsepower from a twin-turbo V-6, fat tires and long hoods, a pair of Z NISMOS attracted plenty of attention in front of Crispelli’s in Royal Oak.
“For us the sports car is a heritage play,” said Nissan Performance Development Manager Christian Spencer. “It’s a halo car for the brand that pushes the limits of performance and technology. It’s not a volume vehicle like the Rogue (SUV), but we have it for brand recognition.”
Starting at $42,085, the Z occupies a similar space as Mustang — midway between entry-level sports cars like the $29k MX-5 Miata (Mazda’s brand halo) and Toyota GR 86, and luxury mid-engine sharks like the $65k Corvette and Porsche Cayman. Pontiac’s one-generation-and-done Fiero (celebrating its 40th anniversary next year) and Solstice played in the entry segment.
American sports car models priced under $100k still dwarf foreign marques with 164,788 units sold in 2022 versus 46,341 for foreign makes. When Challenger and Camaro’s collective 79,712 in sales disappear next year, analysts will watch which brands benefit.
“A car company has to commit to making great performance cars and making them for an extended period to establish a following,” said iSeeCars’ Brauer. “With the exception of the Corvette and Mustang — two models that have narrowly escaped cancellation more than once — American car companies don’t appear to have the financial or engineering commitment necessary to build a performance car following.”
Camaro sales plummeted to under 25,000 in 2022 as part of consistent downward trajectory from the brand’s 21st-century peak of 91,314 in 2012. Enthusiasts cooled to ‘Maro after a controversial, sixth-generation 2016 redesign.
“I have better headroom in my ’68 Camaro,” said Zimmerman. “I never warmed to the current car.”
Camaro convertible owner James Martin, 62, of Detroit is an industry consultant as well as a passionate driver. “When the Camaro comes back, it will be as an EV,” he said while watching a pair of V-8 muscle cars swim past. “But if coming electric sports cars just pipe in artificial sound, it’s not going to work with this crowd. It will be interesting to see who gets it right first.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.
Class of 1997: The new Cruise classics
Posted by Talbot Payne on August 18, 2023
The Woodward Dream Cruise auto reunion is in full swing, and this year we honor the great Class of 1997.
In their 26th year, 1997 model cars are now eligible for Michigan antique plates (don’t ask us why the Mitten State considers 26 years old antique). The honor means you just have to pay $30 every 10 years for a vehicle’s registration, not to mention the insurance savings. The catch? Your classic can’t be used as a daily driver, but only for special events like Cruises, cars ‘n’ coffee events, and so on. Which is pretty much all of August in our car-crazed state.
With the 20th century winding down, 1997 was a memorable year beyond auto assembly lines. Artificial intelligence scored a big win when IBM Deep Blue downed chess GOAT Gary Kasparov, “The Lion King” roared on Broadway, J.K. Rowling published the first of her Harry Potter books, NASA’s Pathfinder landed on Mars, Tiger Woods became the youngest Masters winner at 21, Steve Jobs returned to Apple, and Princess Di met a tragic end in a car crash.
Here are the 1997 auto classics that left a mark.
Plymouth Prowler
Chrysler President Bob Lutz and design chief Tom Gale were determined to shake up the industry in the 1990s, and the aluminum Prowler followed the Dodge Viper as one of the decade’s most outrageous models. The retro-futuristic Prowler harkened back to 1950s hot rods but was equipped with the latest interior amenities. When the Plymouth brand died in 2001, the Prowler was rebadged as a Chrysler for 2001-02. “We wanted to change people’s perception of Chrysler as a boring company that built boring front-wheel-drive sedans,” said Lutz. Mission accomplished.
GM EV1
Facing looming California mandates to sell EVs, General Motors went all-in on an all-new EV — rather than re-purposing an existing gas-powered chassis with batteries. The result was the distinctive, jelly-bean shaped EV1, of which a little over 1,000 were built. With 74 miles of range from its lead-acid batteries, the two-seater gave a glimpse at electric innovations that are commonplace on today’s EVs, including low-rolling resistance tires and regenerative braking. Don’t expect to see any EV1s on Woodward, however — GM only leased the EV1 to customers in California, Arizona and Georgia, then crushed all but 40. Hemmings estimates there are six in private hands today.
The Jeep Wrangler TJ
The all-new ’97 dirt-kicker was immediately recognizable by its round headlights — ditching the previous gen’s rectangular peepers. But the big change was under the skin, where the TJ ditched leaf springs for smoother-riding coil-overs and upgraded interior (complete with twin air bags). The changes were hardly cosmetic, however. The new suspension meant seven more inches of wheel articulation, while the stiffer chassis added confidence in the wild.
Porsche Boxster/Cayman
An instant classic, the mid-engine Boxster became the brand’s entry-level sports car after two decades of front-engine starter models, including the 924, 944 and 968. Though the pricier 911 remained as Porsche’s premier sports car, the whip-quick Boxster harkened back to the mid-engine 550 Spyder made famous in the United States by James Dean. Powered by a howling 2.5-liter flat-6 engine, Boxster sold out quickly in its inaugural year and was ultimately joined by a Cayman coupe sibling in 2005. Expect another Porsche shift when the all-electric Boxster arrives for 2025.
Chevrolet Corvette C5
Longer, leaner and wider than its predecessor, the fifth-generation ‘Vette received raves from enthusiasts for its roomier interior, simpler gauges and better handling. For the first time, the gearbox was moved to the rear of the car. The upgrades — and addition of a convertible to the lineup in ’98 — returned Corvette to Car and Driver’s Top Ten list for the first time in 10 years. In a show of the industry’s relentless progress, the 5.7-liter V-8’s 345 horsepower matched the output of the 1967 7.0-liter ‘Vette. On the other hand, that’s 75 horsepower less than a 2023 Chevy Suburban.
Ford Expedition
Though hardly a jaw-dropping Cruiser, Expedition created a stir in ‘97 as an alternative to the popular Chevy Suburban. The mega-ute wars were born (the Toyota Sequoia, Nissan Armada and Jeep Wagoneer would follow). Based on the Ford F-150 pickup frame, the three-row Expedition was a foot and a half shorter than the Suburban to better fit in your garage. Ford’s big boy was available with two V-8 engines with a max towing capability of 8,000 pounds, so you could tow, say, your Jaguar XK8 to the Cruise.
Jaguar XK8
The first all-new Jaguar in over a decade, the sleek XK boasted distinctive looks and a voluptuous wood and leather interior. Available as a coupe or convertible, the Jag rocked the brand’s first V-8 engine, a tradition that continues in the current F-Type sports car. Though not as sporty as the Corvette, the $70k XK won raves for its improved handling over the departed XJ (and if you wanted more grunt, the XKR became available in 1999).
Mercedes SLK
The two-seater Merc was meant to re-create the brand’s legendary 1950s 190SL. Though enthusiasts dinged it for a lack of manual transmission option, it packed plenty of punch from its supercharged 4-cylinder engine and quick handling. Its convertible hardtop was beautifully designed to convert the car into a coupe — with trunk space left over. The SLK ended its run in 2020.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.