Clean diesels headed to the U.S., commitment to lower Co2 emissions and new V-8s dominated the chatter and blather at the Detroit Auto Show Sunday. Huh? V-8s and cleaner vehicles?! Power junkies, fear not. V-8s may only be getting incrementally more fuel efficient, but one thing is for sure: They are not going away. And neither are big luxury cars.
At the same time, companies like Honda with a remodeled Pilot SUV, Subaru with the new Forester for 2009 and Kia with its new Borrego leveraged
their reputations for practicality, reliability and fuel efficiency.
Here’s the highlights from day one of the most influential auto show in North America here in Motor City.
BMW unwrapped its new X6 Sports Activity Vehicle with a 407-hp, 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8. BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer says the X6 as a sports utility vehicle represents a new category that others will follow. BMW also showed its hydrogen 7 vehicle, 100 of which have been made and given to “celebrities” and “selected representatives of the political world.”
Also this year, BMW will enter the North American market for diesel with “Advanced Diesel with BluePerformance” in its X5 model, boasting 265 hp and 19/25 MPG.
If BMW rolled out a cheetah, Audi one-upped with a beast: the R8 two-seat concept car with a mid-engine 500 hp V-12 diesel. Super-secret until today, it’s uncertain if the vehicle is coming to the U.S. with a V-12 or a V-10 (known as the R10), according to a product specialist who did not want to give his name. The R8 presently has a V-8 gas engine.
Sex was on the mind of Mercedes executives with the introduction of its new GLK sports utility vehicle with a four-cylinder 204 hp BLUETEC diesel which boasts 35 MPG. Indeed, they called in Sex in the City star Kim Catrell to roll it out, which among features she said she loves is its “incredibly spacious trunk.” Mercedes also launched a new SLK roadster with a new 300 hp V-6. M