DETROIT
THIS is already shaping up as a topsy-turvy year for the auto industry, which brought its movers and shakers together here last week for the opening of the 2004 North American International Auto Show.
The domestic automakers, experts in trucks and sport utilities, are on a passenger car binge. Asian companies, masters of the automobile, have plunged headlong into trucks, especially big ones.
Everything seemed backward at Cobo Center: American companies are trying to regain some of the car-market share they have lost to the Japanese and the Koreans, and the Asians are going after the big profits offered by large, sumptuous trucks.
To emphasize its strategy, Ford declared 2004 the "Year of the Car" as it showed off a new Mustang and the Five Hundred family sedan. Chrysler has rediscovered rear-wheel drive; it will offer large sedans with powerful V-8 engines that save fuel by operating on four cylinders when eight are not needed. Honda announced it would sell an Accord this fall that will use six cylinders to accelerate but cruise on only three.
Volkswagen showed diesel versions of its Touareg S.U.V. and Passat midsize car, and Mercedes-Benz had a diesel E320 sedan. Toyota introduced hybrid gas-electric sport utilities and Honda announced that it would sell a hybrid Accord sedan. There were also more continuously variable transmissions for better fuel economy.
Not everything was commonsensical: Ferrari unveiled its 612 Scaglietti, a four-seater with a 6-liter V-12 engine. Aston Martin showed its new $168,000 DB9 Volante convertible with a 450-horsepower V-12. Mercedes-Benz showed its SLR McLaren, a two-seat exotic car with a supercharged 617-horsepower engine that is capable of racing to 60 m.p.h. in just 3.8 seconds.
For those with more limited bank accounts, there were sporty cars like the PT Cruiser convertible and Crossfire roadster, both from Chrysler.
Here is a look at some of the new or most-changed models that will arrive in showrooms this year.
BMW 6 SERIES: The luxurious four-passenger 645Ci convertible, which will sell for roughly $80,000, shares its 325-horsepower V-8 engine with a coupe version. The styling is a sleek refinement of the high-rump look created under Chris Bangle, an American designer.
CHRYSLER 300 and DODGE MAGNUM: Arriving in the spring, these are the first large Chrysler cars to switch from front to rear drive, with all-wheel drive available. A 190-horsepower V-6 engine is standard; an option is the 5.7-liter hemi V-8 with 340 horsepower, with cylinder deactivation that allows the engine to shut down four cylinders when eight are not needed. Pricing runs from $22,495 for the Magnum sports wagon to $34,995 for the 300C flagship.
FORD FIVE HUNDRED: A little bigger than the Taurus on the outside, and a lot bigger inside, the Five Hundred has a huge trunk. Powered with a 200-horsepower V-6, this front-drive car also offers an all-wheel-drive version and a continuously variable transmission.
FORD FREESTYLE: Ford's first crossover utility wagon has three rows of seats and aims at minivan flexibility without the minivan image. It is mechanically similar to the Five Hundred.
FORD MUSTANG: Think of this as the all-new 1967 Mustang, Ford says. The rear-wheel-drive sporty car arrives this fall, with the classic profile featuring long hood and short trunk. There is a little more room, and Mustang engineers promise much better handling. The standard engine is a 4-liter V-6 rated at 202 horsepower; the GT gets an all-aluminum 4.6-liter V-8 rated at 300 horsepower.
CHEVROLET CORVETTE: The redesigned sixth-generation coupe goes on sale this summer, followed in the fall by a convertible. These are the first 'Vettes since 1962 with exposed, fixed headlights instead of pop-ups. The highest top speed for a production 'Vette ever, 180 m.p.h., comes from a 6.0-liter V-8 rated at 400 horsepower.
INFINITI QX56: Infiniti is adding this huge luxury utility vehicle, based on the Nissan Armada, in the spring. It has three rows of seats, a 5.6-liter V-8 and a choice of rear-wheel or four-wheel drive.
MERCEDES-BENZ VISION GRAND SPORTS TOURER: Conceptually similar to the Chrysler Pacifica, but more stylish and elegant, this sport wagon seats six people in three rows.
NISSAN PATHFINDER and FRONTIER: The midsize Pathfinder will have three seating rows for the first time and a new platform derived from the big Nissan Titan pickup. The Frontier is larger.
PONTIAC G6: This sporty midsize sports sedan goes on sale in the fall, replacing the Grand Am, and will be followed by a coupe and a convertible as part of Pontiac's effort to revitalize itself as sort of an American BMW. The G6 will have a 200-horsepower 3.5.-liter V-6 engine; later in the year a GTP version will get a 240-horsepower 3.9-liter V-6.
SUZUKI RENO: This five-door hatchback crossover vehicle is aimed at the youth market. Prices range from $13,000 to $15,000.
TOYOTA SCION: In June, Scion will bring out the tC, a sporty coupe with a moon roof, at less than $20,000.
TOYOTA HIGHLANDER HYBRID and LEXUS RX 400h: These gas-electric hybrid versions of the Highlander and RX 330 utility wagons will offer claimed combined city-highway mileage ratings better than 27.6 m.p.g., the current average for compact sedans. The batteries in these new sport-utility hybrids will have nearly double the power of the batteries in the Toyota Prius sedan. The S.U.V.'s will have an all-new high-speed electric motor that will work at twice the speed and deliver more than twice the power, too.
— by CHERYL JENSEN
