A small, suitcase-size plastic display case in Buick’s exhibit at the Detroit Auto Show here features a scale-model vehicle hidden under a cloth. The sign reads:
“We have a Rendezvous in Chicago.”
Novel way to announce that the Buick Rendezvous hybrid mini-van/sport-utility will be shown in concept form at the Chicago Auto Show next month, where most expect the automaker to confirm that it will build the machine in 2001 as a 2002 model.
While mum about Rendezvous, Ron Zarrella, president of GM’s North American operations, did reveal that the Chevrolet SSR concept that’s on display here and will be spotlighted in Chicago, has been approved for production.
The Chevrolet SSR is one of those truck/sport-ute combos built off the S-10 pickup platform.
Chevy calls it a roadster with more function. Some may call it a retro El Camino car/truck with a power retractable hardtop that lifts, folds and slides into hiding in front of the tonneau-covered pickup bed to convert the SSR into an open-top machine.
The concept is powered by a 6-liter V-8 aimed at making this primarily a performance roadster with truck functionality.
“Each month our executive committee visits the design center to look at concepts we’re working on. There’s no formal presentation, we just look at them in a line, get in and move around.
“Last August, Wayne (Cherry, head of GM design) showed us about 14 concepts. The last one in line that day was covered by a tarp. He took it off, and it was the SSR,” Zarrella said in an interview.
“We all said, `build it’ and within two weeks the SSR was approved,” Zarrella said of a process that can take months, if not years, from wraps-off to thumbs-up.
“We still have to make a business case for it (determining cost, equipment and how many to produce) so I can’t say when we’ll build it, but you’ll be surprised how soon we do,” Zarrella said.
Going global: A novelty from Ford, the Equator concept combines the length of an F-150 pickup with the width of an F-350 super-duty truck to give occupants more cabin room. The suspension is tuned for off-road racing, and bumper, fender, wheel well and lower trim panels are made of Kevlar to resist damage.
What to watch most, however, is the doors. They are cut high up into the body so that when open, there’s room for a lower panel to hydraulically deploy downward to create a step in or out.
If built, Equator would compete with the Chevrolet Avalanche that comes out in the first quarter of 2001 as a 2002 model. Like Avalanche, Equator has a short cargo bed, but unlike Avalanche, the rear cabin window slips down into the rear cabin bulkhead, then the bulkhead folds down as do the rear seats in this extended cab to create more cargo capacity. In the Avalanche, the rear window has to be removed and stored inside the cabin before the bulkhead and seats can be folded.
Night and day: Ford also unveiled a variety of “what if” vehicles called 24.7 (24 hours a day, seven days a week), concepts designed to provide personalized transportation. The 24.7 line includes wagon, pickup and coupe built off the Focus platform that emphasize stark exterior styling to show that what’s offered inside is more important, such as voice-activated controls to access the phone, e-mail or stock quotes, a system General Motors promises this year in a Cadillac.
Based on voice activation, Ford goes GM one better. You can select what gauges you want in your customized instrument panel, which serves as an Internet screen, and whether you want the fuel needle on the left or right and whether you want to display pictures of the kids on the panel.
Other novel features include head and taillamps made of light-emitting diodes to last the life of the vehicle, choice of soft yellow or green interior “welcome” lighting when you open the door, cameras to replace outside mirrors for a more panoramic view of your surroundings shown on a dash screen plus a camera under the rearview mirror to monitor what the kids are doing in back and a removable rear seat that can be used as a bench outside the car when you pull the projection screen out from under the cargo floor and hang it from the hatchlid to show videos.
Topless concept: Toyota is going to offer a convertible version of the new Celica coupe, but not for a year. To make the wait manageable, it has unveiled the Celica convertible concept.
For open-top enthusiasts, keep in mind that the new MR-2 roadster arrives in showrooms April 1; the Solara convertible built off the Camry comes out a few weeks later. Both are on the show circuit. Traction control will be standard on the uplevel Solara SLE.
Toyota foursome: The Toyota Sequoia sport-utility goes on sale this fall as a 2001 model. Built off the same platform as the Tundra pickup, Sequoia will feature the same 4.7-liter V-8 engine. By the way, don’t be surprised if an extended-cab version of the Tundra arrives in the fall, perhaps one that is showcased first at the Chicago Auto Show in February.
Toyota says Sequoia’s dimensions make it larger than a Chevrolet Tahoe and nearly the same as a Ford Expedition. It will hold eight people in three rows of seats, offer side curtain air bags for head protection in side impacts and be offered in two- or four-wheel-drive versions.
Mitsubishi three: Hints of things to come were displayed here by Mitsubishi, which unveiled the 2001 Eclipse Spyder convertible and redesigned 2001 Montero sport-utility vehicle due out this spring and the SSS concept sedan, an early peek at the next-generation Galant sedan coming for 2003.
The Spyder GS will come with a 2.4-liter, 147-horsepower, 4-cylinder and GT with 3-liter, 200-h.p., 24-valve V-6. Power top, glass rear window with defroster, power windows and locks and air conditioning will be standard.
The redesigned Montero now sports new sheet metal as well as unibody, rather than body-on-frame, construction and for the first time four-wheel independent suspension. A 5-speed automatic transmission also is new, as is a third seat in back that folds to disappear under the cargo floor.
Mitsubishi said it will invest $1.4 billion on at least a trio of new products built off the same platform at its Normal, Ill., assembly plant in 2003. That trio is a new Eclipse, Galant and SUV off the Galant platform. Some speculate a new Diamante will be built off the platform at Normal, too.
The SSS is called an “enhanced-utility sedan” that comes in front-wheel-drive, but can accommodate full-time all-wheel-drive. The rear seats fold down to allow enough room to hold two mountain bikes inside. And there’s a dual front bumper system, one low, a second higher, to lessen the chance of nosedive under a larger SUV or truck in a rear-end collision.
In the last three years Mitsubishi has showcased those 2003 entries in concept form on the auto-show circuit, starting with the SST concept of the Eclipse two years ago; the SSU, dubbed the Mad Maxx; and the SSS peek at the next Galant this year.
But what is it?: A replacement for the Infiniti G20 or an addition to the Infiniti lineup? That’s what Infiniti has to decide with the unveiling of the XVL concept sedan, the automaker’s first concept and one designed as an “entry-level” luxury car.
A decision is expected in April on where XVL fits in the lineup.
The XVL is built off a rear-wheel-drive platform designed for use with a 3-liter V-6 engine placed midship for better weight distribution as well as ride, handling and performance.
The V-6 is teamed with a CVT, or continuously variable transmission, with an unlimited number of gears.
In addition to dual front and side air bags, XVL has side curtain air bags that drop from the roof to provide head protection front to rear in a side impact. There’s also four-wheel ABS and an upgraded traction control system in this five-passenger sedan.
H2, Oh: General Motors unveiled the Hummer H2, a design concept that it says “modernizes and updates the current Hummer while keeping its best traits–aggressiveness, rawness and toughness.”
Last year GM bought American General, maker of the Hummer, and rights to use the name on what is expected to be a family of limited-edition sport-utilities.
The H2 concept is built off the same platform as the Chevrolet Tahoe sport-ute and is smaller than the current AM General production model that’s been renamed the H1.
The H2 concept is built on a 123-inch wheelbase and is 178 inches long, 82 inches wide and 73 inches high, compared with a 130-inch wheelbase, 185-inch length, 87-inch width and 77-inch height on the H1.
In addition to rounding what had been a boxy body and covering many of the exposed rivets and bolts on the Hummer H1, GM added a power-operated canvas sunroof and upgraded the suspension for a smoother, less harsh ride and handling than H1.
And the H2 uses a 6-liter, gas-driven GM V-8 instead of the 6.5-liter turbo diesel in the H1.
H2 also features leather bucket seats front and back with a second-row jump seat and hammock-like netting along the rear bodysides for packing equipment, navigation system, OnStar emergency communication system, video player, CD player, Night Vision heat imaging system, laptop and cell phone docking stations, plus Internet access to send or receive e-mail.
“This isn’t a re-do; it is an exercise that shows what might grow and sustain the brand,” said Clay Dean, GM truck design manager.
