{"id":15926,"date":"2015-01-17T16:37:43","date_gmt":"2015-01-17T20:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=15926"},"modified":"2015-01-17T16:37:43","modified_gmt":"2015-01-17T20:37:43","slug":"henry-paynes-guide-to-the-detroit-auto-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2015\/01\/henry-paynes-guide-to-the-detroit-auto-show","title":{"rendered":"Henry Payne’s guide to the Detroit auto show"},"content":{"rendered":"

You don’t have to walk far into Cobo Center to find my Car of the Show. The gorgeous, blood red, plug-in, battery-powered, twin-turbo, jewel-eyed, platinum-priced, fuel-efficient, high-performance, low drag, shrieking supercar Acura NSX.<\/p>\n

The long-awaited NSX is a one-car smorgasbord of every hot feature on the floor \u2014 with the exception of a pickup bed. And like nearly every reveal at this year’s show it will only appeal to a few.<\/p>\n

During media week, the NSX was a celebrity magnet. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld (reportedly he and fellow funnyman\/car fanatic Jay Leno have dibs on the first two copies), rapper Ludacris, and every auto executive in town came by to ogle the $150K-plus exotic beauty. They are also the rare few who can afford it.<\/p>\n

The 2015 Detroit Auto Show is a showman’s show boasting 50 eye-catching reveals. But it’s a dramatic departure from 2014’s circus that showcased major volume segment reveals like the Ford F-150, Chrysler 200, and Honda Fit. Key luxury debuts abounded, including the Lincoln MKC, Hyundai Genesis, and Acura TLX.<\/p>\n

Last year, Cobo was big box retail. This year it’s an oversized boutique. With the U.S. market back to glorious, pre-recession, 17-million-in-sales-a-year growth, manufacturers are slicing and dicing the market with specialty models. That means performance models. Off-road models. Hybrid models. Anything to keep showrooms packed as automakers try to tease that last dollar out of your wallet.<\/p>\n

This fracturing of the field means that fights are popping up all over the floor like sword duels in a “Hobbit” battle scene. Over here are Tesla and Chevy battling it out for the first 200-mile electric car. Over yonder a skirmish for best small pickup. Me? I’m a sucker for affordable sports cars. Here are the highlights:<\/p>\n

Henry Payne’s take on 2015 NAIAS sports cars<\/a><\/p>\n

Henry Payne’s take on 2015 NAIAS small, midsize and green cars<\/a><\/p>\n

Henry Payne’s take on 2015 NAIAS luxury cars<\/a><\/p>\n

Henry Payne’s take on 2015 NAIAS SUVs<\/a><\/p>\n

Henry Payne’s take on 2015 NAIAS concepts<\/a><\/p>\n

Henry Payne’s take on 2015 NAIAS trucks<\/a><\/p>\n

Raptor vs. Rebel<\/p>\n

In this corner of Cobo, the earth-pawing Ford Raptor. And in that corner the boffo, red-on-black Ram Rebel. Sounds like a WWE bout, huh? The names are intentionally intimidating. These are trucks with attitude. But the bout is a mismatch. The F-150’s evil twin, Raptor is an off-road assault vehicle suitable to run the legendary Baja 1000. With a seriously upgraded chassis and suspension, this monster might eat the trees that Ford has placed around the pickup’s exhibit. In contrast, the Rebel is an aggressive trim upgrade. Blacked-out grille, dual exhaust, and huge, knobby tires give it menace. But inside, this tough truck is a softie. Red-stitched vinyl interior, 8.4-inch UConnect console screen, and a clever media holder for your phone\/tablet.<\/p>\n

The Raptor\/Rebel bruise brothers are evidence that there are the Big Three truck makers \u2014 and everyone else. Over in the Nissan stand, an all-new, full-sized Titan is everything you want in a truck. But the F-150’s Raptor variant alone sold more copies than Titan last year.<\/p>\n

The 200-milers<\/p>\n

Tesla’s Elon Musk has thrown down the gauntlet on making an affordable, $30K electric car. General Motors just picked it up. Expensive electrics like the Tesla Model S and Cadillac ELR are tech wonders, but rare. The Big Game in battery power has always been the challenge of building an affordable EV. The Ford Model T revolutionized motoring because once millions of Americans could afford cars, gas infrastructure followed. So will recharging infrastructure follow the 30-grand EV? If anyone can make the car.<\/p>\n

Musk claims his promised, 200-mile-range, Model E (Model E like Model T, get it?) will be the silver bullet. Chevy’s 200-miler Bolt concept may beat him to it. The Bolt \u2014 smartly executed as a trendy, small crossover \u2014 stepped all over the Chevy Volt 2.0’s introduction this year. Don’t pity the Volt. The redesign has all the sex appeal of a loaf of bread. Or a Corolla.<\/p>\n

Hybrid supercars<\/p>\n

The aforementioned NSX is the latest entry in a new class: The plug-in hybrid electric supercar. The $900,000 Porsche 918 launched the trend with neck-snapping, 2.2-second, 0-60 time. But $1 million cars belong in museums, not on roads. The $138K BMW i8 \u2014 so beautiful it even shames other Bimmers on the stand \u2014 brought that price into more conventional, Porsche 911 Turbo-like orbit. The NSX follows. Electric motors benefit supercars in two ways. They add instant acceleration to lightweight chassis. And they turn the front wheels, transforming mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive athletes into AWD cruise missiles that can turn on a dime. Or (ahem) even negotiate a Detroit snow storm.<\/p>\n

While we’re drooling over supercars, note the show-stopping Ford GT is not a plug-in. It’s a conventional, twin-turbo V6. Which means it’s headed for LeMans GT racing to slay Ferrari. High five.<\/p>\n

Dashboard revolution<\/p>\n

Thanks to digital technology, I get blind-spot alerts, automatic braking before I punt the car in front of me. . . I can even drive hands-free with lane-keep assist (which freaks out Mrs. Payne). But the digital revolution is also transforming the center console. Tesla’s “floating iPad” console is as cool as its 200-mile range. Over at the Lincoln stand, the all-new MKX eliminates the cumbersome gearshift stalk with a push-button tranny next to an infotainment screen angled helpfully toward the driver. Ditto the Chrysler 200.<\/p>\n

And now for something completely different: The new Audi TT fuses console and instrument screens into one display for better heads-up driving. Thank a super-smart nvidia (Intel is sooo 15 minutes ago) chip \u2014 the same brain that runs your kids’ awesome video games.<\/p>\n

Megatrend<\/p>\n

For all the micro-segments on Cobo’s floor, there is one over-arching megatrend: SUVs are taking over the world. Like the 19th-century stagecoach, we homo sapiens like riding high in our 21st-century vehicles. Some cars go to extraordinary lengths to be SUVs. Check out the Volvo S60 Cross Country, which takes its flowing, coupe-like sedan shell and jacks it 2.5-inches in the air to be labeled a crossover. Or the Mercedes GLE63. Looks kinda like a Subaru Outback (who knew Subie was a fashion leader?).<\/p>\n

But maybe the most haunting proof that everything will ultimately turn into a crossover is the Hyundai Santa Cruz concept. It’s a pickup. The height of a compact SUV. With car-like, unibody construction.<\/p>\n

Wild. Put a 550-horsepower plug-in-hybrid drivetrain in it and I bet Leno will snap it up in a minute. Enjoy the show.<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/p>\n

Five must-sees<\/p>\n

Dodge simulator:\u00a0The Detroit show’s first full-car simulator. Take the family for a wild ride in a Charger Hemi.<\/p>\n

Acura NSX:\u00a0You’ll be hypnotized by this supercar’s 12 jewel-eye headlights. If its 550 plug-in electric horsepower doesn’t already have you a trance.<\/p>\n

Mini Superleggera.\u00a0What you get when you cross a British boy toy with an Italian supercar designer.<\/p>\n

Ford F-150 SVT Raptor.\u00a0Looks like a mechanized Jurassic Park reptile. Just don’t put your hands inside the cage.<\/p>\n

Alfa Romeo 4C Spider.\u00a0Turbocharged, sports-car fun. In a drop-top. With the most gorgeous models in the show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You don’t have to walk far into Cobo Center to find my Car of the Show. The gorgeous, blood red, plug-in, battery-powered, twin-turbo, jewel-eyed, platinum-priced, fuel-efficient, high-performance, low drag, shrieking supercar Acura NSX. The long-awaited NSX is a one-car smorgasbord of every hot feature on the floor \u2014 with the exception of a pickup bed. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15926"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15927,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15926\/revisions\/15927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}