All of us have at one time or another slid on a pair of our favorite jeans only to find an errant sock or pair of underwear balled up in a pant leg completely throwing off an otherwise comfy fit and possibly sending us into a brief tizzy where we wonder if an animal or something has crawled in there. Only after we have identified the culprit as wayward article of clothing and not some rabid rodent do we relax and attempt to restore order (that oh-so familiar feel) by tugging it out the bottom. Ahh, the relief.
Such is a prime example of how some things at sometime, just don’t fit. Just as that bulge around your thigh feels more out of place than Michael Vick in a pet store, some of the exhibitions at this year’s NAIAS seem blatantly, well, out of character. These are the items that at one time would make us stop, scratch our melon and think “hmm.” In today’s hyper attention-deficit society where we don’t have either the time or inclination to fully pronounce words and sentences, however, we have come up with a nice acronym to describe the phenomenon: WTF!?
Now, this is not meant to be an outright criticism as there is plenty of that to go around at any auto show. On the contrary, the cars were again the focus this year in Detroit, (not really sure what they were doing those other years) many designs (concept & production) of which were very well received. So everyone gets an “A” for effort. OK, well maybe not everyone, but several brands anyway. The real point here is to highlight those concepts that are uncharacteristic at this time/place for their marque.
The first vehicle that comes to mind is the Cadillac CTS. Well, vehicle(s) really, with both the CTS-V and Coupe Concept, which incidentally won the EyesOn Design Awards for best production and concept car respectively. Why the surprise, you ask? For starters, Cadillac (and the CTS specifically) hasn’t been awarded with top honors at the Detroit Show since, well, last year.
That’s right, an unlikely yet very significant, repeat. The CTS was awarded best production vehicle just a short 12 months ago on this same stage signally in many a playbook that Caddy is “in it to win it.”
As if the 6.3L, 550 horsepower Super-charged V8 wasn’t indication enough.
The next entry in my book also comes from the cast of EyesOn winners, though this one is a bit more subjective. BMW introduced their new X6 and with it an all-together new acronym, the SAC or “sports activity coupe”. My somewhat reluctant indictment here is that this type of vehicle (never mind that it may be available as a diesel) flies in direct opposition to the general eco-trending of the industry and allows the luxury brands to talk out of both sides of their mouths.
As well executed as the X6 appears, to me it says, “here are all of the negative virtues (admittedly few) of the X5 and now we are going to take away the marginal space that made its heft and lack of fuel economy even remotely excusable.” Again, this is not an issue with BMW per se, but rather a misunderstanding of how you can have a auto show with forever more an underlying theme around green technologies and fuel-economy and still have OEMs churning out sports-oriented (read: fast, well-handling and thirsty) SUVs.
At a time when the answer to the SUV: 0 – 60 time question should be “yes” or “no,” we are hearing: 4.9 sec. (Porsche Cayenne GTS) Throw in an award and it’s definitely worthy of a WTF!?
My last vehicle is the VW Passat CC.
The B5 generation was admittedly a very fine car from Volkswagen even though it represented a departure from the company’s tradition of providing everyman’s transportation. Apparently these just happen to be the everymen that got a promotion and became managers rather than line workers as well. Fine.
The lesson should have been learned, however, that VW not only established where the line in the brand-sand had been drawn, but smashed through it like one of Oahu’s pipeline waves with the 300 hp, W8. If they were looking for some type of early indicator to the acceptance or forbiddance of the VW brand in the luxury segment, well, I’m pretty sure that was it. To march ahead with the Touareg and Phaeton, is reckless at best, and at worst reinventing the 4 wheels you already have built in Audi. So, are we to assume that the Passat CC (and even higher priced follower as promised) is a slower push into the upper segments and that maybe no one will notice? Definite WTF!?
To reiterate, I fully admit that these are all fine automobiles, personal design preferences aside. After all, once you remove that dirty pair of underwear you are still left with your favorite jeans. And who knows, maybe the combination of diesel power and permanent flood waters from melting ice-caps will deem the X6 the most useful SAC out there. Walking through Cobo Hall today, though, in today’s environment it is hard to look at these cars and think, “yeah, that makes sense.”
Conversely, if I had to pick a design or concept that not only represented a significant progression consistent with the industry’s current conditions and one whose character was still commensurate with its brand heritage, it would be the BMW 335d. In my opinion, this is a vehicle that has the potential to highlight diesel power in the consumer market the way the Audi R10 has in racing. (Something VW and Mercedes-Benz have not been able to do.)
What was your major head-scratcher this year?
Recent Comments