Detroit Auto Show
By Ward's Staff Ward's AutoWorld, Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM

If it's January in Detroit, it must be time to celebrate — in grand style — the arrival of a new year and dozens of new vehicles unveiled at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS).

The strategy is the same for each of the Big Three: flood the market with as much compelling product as possible in an attempt to reverse the market-share momentum gained by German and Japanese-based competitors. There's a war of words, in fact, between General Motors Corp. and the Chrysler Group as to which company is rolling out the most new product.

The Big Three each seem ready to put the metal where their mouths are.

With the runaway success of Hummer, GM rolls out yet three more models: the H3T concept pickup, '05 H2 SUT and '05 H1 SUV. Plans are to build the H3 SUVs off the Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon midsize-pickup architecture.

GM's Saab Automobile will show its all-new 9-2X, due to North American dealers in July. At the recent Los Angeles auto show unveiling, stunt drivers burned rubber and fishtailed two 9-2Xs around the audience and ceiling support beams. The 9-2X is a version of the Subaru WRX made by GM equity partner Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. Saab expects to sell roughly 7,000 9-2Xs annually with prices starting at less than $25,000.

GM also lights the fuse on three intriguing concepts for Pontiac, Chevy and Saturn, all based on the new, internally-debated compact rear-wheel drive architecture called Kappa. Pontiac's interpretation is the '06 Solstice; Chevy retries its hand with the Nomad wagon; and Saturn's RWD coupe concept is dubbed Curve. Solstice will be offered only as a convertible. Look for DOHC I-4 Ecotec-based power for the platform.

Ford Motor Co. rings in with a production version of the Five Hundred sedan, which the company considers the flagship of its “Year of the Car” strategy; its Mercury mate from the same platform is the Montego, replete with a continuously variable transmission and all-wheel drive.

The long-awaited '05 Ford Mustang should prove a crowd-pleaser, though most everybody's seen some version of the production car. Mustang sports the first 4.6L variant of Ford's 3-valve SOHC V-8 layout.

And Lincoln fronts a concept, a roadster called Mark X. The “X” is derived from the Ford Thunderbird/DEW98 platform and has a retractable hardtop.

Freestyle, based on the Five Hundred, spans the gap between cars and trucks and is Ford's first medium cross/utility vehicle. The feds classify it a truck, though.

Lincoln gets a low-volume version of the smooth new F-150, Ford says.

Ford's Range Stormer is a high-performance SUV concept from its Land Rover unit. It has a supercharged V-8 and giant 22-in. wheels. The Ford Bronco concept, opposingly, is Ford's definition of “raw, authentic and bare bones,” says design chief J Mays. The Bronco, based on the Ecosport built in South America, fits below the Escape in size and price.

Chrysler Group's promised offensive is led by concepts from Dodge and Jeep. It's too early to say if the company's serious about Dodge Slingshot, a tiny 2-door with a 3-cyl. that stretches fuel economy toward 50 mpg (4.7L/100 km). Then again, it might be central to the European-assault plan in the works for Chrysler-brand vehicles.

The Jeep Rescue is Chrysler's Wrangler-on-a-bodybuilder-program answer to GM's expanding Hummer lineup. Rescue launches the beginning of a heavy investment in Jeep, say Chrysler sources.

At Toyota Motor Corp., hybrids rise to the top of the agenda, with the Toyota and Lexus brands both planning big announcements. Additionally, Lexus shows a concept on which the next-generation GS rear-wheel-drive sports sedan will be based.

Toyota's newest brand, Scion, chooses Detroit to unveil its third youth-targeted model. Scion officials have said its third vehicle, tC, which is based on the ccX concept shown at Detroit last January, is a sport coupe with the added benefit of utility, designed specifically for the U.S. market.

Nissan North America Inc. gives a sneak peek of a concept vehicle, dubbed the Small Crossover Concept. The concept likely will serve as the basis for the next-generation Sentra compact, which insiders have said no longer will resemble a 3-box sedan in its next iteration. A Sentra revamp is slated for 2006.

Nissan also shows new versions of vehicles left over from the old regime: the Pathfinder SUV and Frontier pickup truck. The Xterra, the vehicle that kicked off the Nissan Revival Plan under Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. President and CEO Carlos Ghosn, will be all-new for the '05 model year.

American Honda Motor Co. Inc. pulls the sheet from its hotly anticipated sport/utility truck concept. The vehicle, based on the Pilot cross/utility vehicle and Odyssey minivan platform, is the closest Honda ever has come to a pickup truck. Pickups represent a hole in Honda's lineup the company apparently believes it's time to fill.