Each week, our German correspondent slices and dices the latest rumblings, news, and quick-hit driving impressions from the other side of the pond. His byline may say Jens Meiners, but we simply call him . . . the Continental.
After this year’s Detroit auto show and a trip to California for a press event, I am back on my German home turf. This Detroit auto show—public days of which just ended last weekend—was the best one in several years. After thumbing through my notes, I’ve compiled a few of my observations from Cobo Hall and subsequent meetings, outlining the highlights, lowlights, and so-so performances.
Yes: Acura NSX. Finally, another super sports car from Honda! A Honda/Acura rebirth is on the way, disturbing comments by the company’s North American marketing executives notwithstanding. This car won’t be a compromise. One caveat: Voices tell me CEO Ito has seen the light in the form of electrics and hybrids. At least he thinks so.
No: Cadillac ATS. Cadillac has been defined by its characteristic and unmistakably angular styling language, and I was expecting an ultra-contemporary, aggressive compact sports sedan. A sharper and more compact CTS, please. Alas, the ATS falls flat down on its unremarkable face—and the interior doesn’t save it, either. Are Cadillac’s designers voluntarily abandoning its styling language, or was this car clinicked to death? At this point, it makes no difference. But hey, it’s supposed to beat the 3-series on the road, right? We’ll see.
Yes: Audi’s Q3 Vail concept. “Two months ago, [CEO] Rupert Stadler asked us to create a Q3 for America to gauge interest in the car,” says exterior designer Frank Gruner. His team took the off-road styling package add-ons, resprayed them in a granite color, added running boards, aluminum appliqués, and 20-inch wheels, plus an aluminum roof rack with integrated LED lights.The concept was so well received that Stadler confirmed the Q3 will come to the U.S.
So-so: the Mercedes-Benz SL550. I love the fact this car is up to 275 pounds lighter than its predecessor, and I am sure it will be an absolute blast to drive. (Please also mark me down for extended test drives of the upcoming SL63 and SL65 AMG versions.) Meanwhile, however, allow me to comment on the interior design: I noted the center air vents and screen are slightly off-center, presumably so the center left vent’s airflow won’t disturb the driver’s right hand. Not a lovely solution, and I strongly suspect this isn’t what the original sketch looked like. But an absolute low point is the “Mercedes-Benz” lettering on the steering wheel—curved and in italics—that oozes all the tasteful restraint of a “Stauer Meisterzeit” timepiece (consult your in-flight shopping catalog). It is patently misplaced in an ultra-modern sports car. As to the SL’s exterior: Why does the gap of the trunk/roof cover extend to the sides when Mercedes managed to avoid this on the SLK? For which full-size truck were the enormous headlights originally designed? And does Mercedes really intend to establish those flimsy-looking exterior mirrors and those oval, 1990s door handles as the connecting element bridging all vehicle classes?
Yes: German suppliers. Schaeffler, KSPG, ZF, and Continental showed a number of technologies to enhance efficiency, ranging from lighter and more-efficient transmissions to turbochargers, auxiliary components, and—if you must—range extenders. Impressive stuff worth looking into. One executive says: “Thanks to all the talk about CO2, we can finally sell the technical solutions that we’ve peddled to carmakers for years.” That said, he doesn’t believe in the horrible tale of the perils of CO2. But that’s just his personal opinion . . .
No: Tesla Model S. The fit and finish of the five-door-seven-seater-130-mph-300-mile-range miracle car marked a nadir at this show. It looks fine from a considerable distance, but don’t get too close. Taillights were unevenly glued together; body parts fit poorly; and the interior, with its crude flat screens, is a 1960s futuristic nightmare. The car is supposed to be delivered to customers this summer? I wonder if Franz von Holzhausen would have gotten away with this at an internal, early-stage presentation at Mazda.
Yes: Porsche. It’s good to see the German icon in Detroit, only some years after former CEO Wendelin Wiedeking thought the brand could do without the show. No way. (And Jaguar/Land Rover really should have been there, too.)
So-so: the Dodge Dart. It looks like a 1990s compact and—this is an educated guess based on experience with its Italian siblings—a Volkswagen GTI will probably run circles around it. But it has a nicely executed interior, its technical basis is efficient, and it puts Dodge back in the game.
And my favorite: VW CEO Martin Winterkorn. On the Mercedes stand, he was all over the new SL with its 90-percent-plus aluminum structure. Just to be sure, the VW boss produced a small magnet to examine the innovative structure. You see, Winterkorn is a materials scientist. At supplier presentations, we’ve seen him scrape the surface off samples with a knife—to ensure he isn’t presented with a dummy part. This executive is a paragon of a genuine car-guy culture.
So much for Detroit; this Conti is written from the Rally Monte Carlo, which Sébastien Loeb, driving a Citroën DS3 WRC, has just won. An unbelievably cool rally. More on that next week.
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