Tagged: detroit auto show

Detroit automakers are introducing cars at this year’s Detroit Auto Show that could help them make gains against foreign-based competitors. 

Ford Motor Company is unveiling its new Fusion, hoping to topple the traditional midsize sedan leaders, the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.  

The Fusion will also come in hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions, with the plug-in getting the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon.  

Ford CEO Alan Mulally says the company sold a record number of Fusions in 2011 -

"It had its best sales year ever," Mulally told reporters after revealing the Fusion at Joe Louis Arena.  "So the new Fusion is going to build on that success and be very, very popular with consumers."

But Ford Executive Chairman, Bill Ford, Jr., says the company is not going to pursue an increase in market share for the coveted midsize sedan segment just for the sake of market share.

"We are not going to play that volume game," he says.  "If it happens organically, great, but we don’t have some magic number on the wall that we’re all pushing toward."

Meanwhile, Cadillac on Sunday introduced a new small luxury vehicle, the ATS, to compete against BMW and Mercedes Benz.   GM North American President Mark Reuss says the car is a "true driver's car," and can compete head to head with the Mercedes Benz C class and the BMW 3 series.

BMW North America head Ludwig Willisch says a new competitor is always a concern, but he's confident that upgrades to the new 3-series will enable the company to keep its leadership position.

For its part, Chrysler introduced a new small car called the Dodge Dart.  The car will compete against small cars made both by its Detroit rivals and foreign-based companies including Toyota, Honda and Hyundai.

It doesn't really look like a "truck" in the traditional sense, but neither did the other two finalists for the "Truck of the Year" award (the BMW X3 and the Honda CR-V - see photos above). These are more SUV or Crossover vehicles.

But, the government classifies them as trucks, so trucks they are.

The 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque took the 2012 North American Truck of the Year award. The award was announced this morning at the Detroit Auto Show.

This is the third time a European automaker has won the "Truck of the Year" award in the 19-year history of the award (domestic automakers have won it 12 times and Japanese automakers have won it four times).

Andy Goss, the president of Jaguar Land Rover of North America, said the company is excited about the award and plans to "market the hell out of it."

The award is judged by 50 automotive journalists. One juror, Frank Aukofer of Driveways, was quoted as saying "there's only one totally new vehicle in this class, which should not even be classified as a truck. It's the Range Rover Evoque. It would be my top choice except for its high price and laggard multipurpose touch-screen, which reacts in slow motion. Nevertheless, it's an entirely new direction for Land Rover, more a sports-car hatchback than off-road basher."

In it's review, Car and Driver asks "Can style rule in a utilitarian realm?"

That’s the $43,995 question riding the broad shoulders of the smallest-ever Range Rover, the Evoque. To be accurate, it’s the $43,995 to $53,895 question, if we include all the trim levels. That lofty base-price range makes the thesis issue—the preeminence of style as a purchase motivator for SUVs—critical to this Range Rover newbie. A matter of life and death, even.

The 2012 Hyundai Elantra has been named the 2012 "North American Car of the Year" by a jury of 50 automotive journalists.

The announcement was made at the Detroit Auto Show this morning.

To be eligible for the award, a car model must have gone through a significant redesign from previous model years and be expected to have reasonable sales numbers in North America.

The U.S. News "Best Cars" report says this of the 2012 Hyundai Elantra:

Most members of the automotive press agree that the 2012 Hyundai Elantra outshines many of its competitors because it’s well-rounded. For example, the Elantra has high fuel economy ratings of 29/40 mpg city/highway, and unlike the Ford Fiesta, Ford Focus and Chevrolet Cruze, shoppers don’t need to upgrade to higher trims to get those figures.

According to the North American Car and Truck of the Year website, the 50 jurors judged the car on things such as "value for the dollar, innovation, handling, performance, safety and driver satisfaction." 

The other two finalists in the North American Car of the Year Award were the 2012 Volkswagen Passat and the 2012 Ford Focus (see photos in slideshow above).

The award has been given out for the last 19 years. This is the second time the  Korean automaker, Hyundai, has won the award.

The Hyundai Genesis won in 2009.

More from the NACTOY website:

Domestic automakers have won North American Car of the Year ten times. European automakers have won four times, Japanese automakers have won three times. A Korean automaker – Hyundai - has won once.

Prior to announcing the award at the Detroit Auto Show, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood took the stage to highlight the success of the restructuring of Chrysler and General Motors. The "Big Three" U.S. automakers (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) have returned to profitability for the first time since 2004.

LaHood said the cars here at the Detroit auto show represent the return of the American automakers.