A tale of two shows in Motor City
Older showroom floor space meets automotive innovation displays in Detroit
DETROIT, MICH.— The 2018 North American International Auto Show, a.k.a. the Detroit Auto Show, which opens to the public Saturday and will run through next weekend, is really two shows.
On the main floor at the downtown Cobo Center is what I’m calling the “old” show — showroom-type presentations of the latest automobiles, highlighted by unveilings and press conferences.
Downstairs, you will find something that show organizers are calling Automobili-D but what I’m calling the “new” show. It’s down there that you will find out about the future of the automobile itself and the industry in general, and frankly, there’s some pretty fascinating stuff going on.
For instance, did you know that Uber is busy digitizing every single street, road and back alley in Toronto? Well, it is — anticipating the day when self-driving cars take over the city.
I found that out from Elliot Siemiatycki, who works for the Automotive Manufacturing and Technology Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science, which has a display at the Detroit show.
And that media preview days, which began last Sunday in Detroit and continued through Tuesday, were kicked off not by the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao, as might have been expected, but by Ray Tanguay, automotive adviser to the governments of Ontario and Canada. Chao was invited to speak after Tanguay. More from Siemiatycki and Tanguay — and others — later. But first, here’s what happened during media preview days at the “old” show. Actually, first: here’s what didn’t happen.
For starters, not every manufacturer showed up in Detroit. Porsche and Jaguar Land Rover, for instance — and there were others — didn’t have displays. It was particularly interesting that Land Rover took a pass, because 2018 is that company’s 70th anniversary, and you’d have thought they’d be front-andcentre at the first big auto show of the year.
Then, as recently as three years ago, media preview days would start at 7 a.m. on the first Monday with the announcement of the North American Car and Truck of the Year, to be followed all day Monday by press conference after press conference and unveilings that would end around supper time but continue Tuesday before finally winding up in early afternoon.
This year, things didn’t get going till 8 a.m. Monday, and the last automaker press conference of the day took place shortly after noon. There was one — one — held early Tuesday morning and that was it for the day. Where did everybody go? Sure, there were all sorts of presentations made by the likes of BlackBerry and Magna — even IndyCar took advantage to introduce its new aero body kit to the masses — but this is a famous auto show, not an electronics show or trade show of the types usually found in Las Vegas or Indianapolis.
Now, General Motors and Mercedes-Benz did what they’ve done for years and held big receptions and press conferences at downtown Detroit hotels Sunday night. Ford held a press conference to unveil a truck, a retro Mustang and to make a huge announcement about electrification, but many reporters either weren’t yet in town or were busy getting ready for the GM or Mercedes receptions. And while some among the dozen or so manufacturers who did debut automobiles introduced products that are either on sale now or will be shortly, many of them — Nissan and Infiniti, included — unveiled concept or prototype cars.
I was told that Nissan considers Detroit to be the second most important show — after Tokyo — for the brand and so decided to “do its bit” to support it by showing the concepts rather than skipping out. It’s a pity more automakers didn’t feel the same way.
Of those who were there, here are some highlights: The Honda Accord was named North American Car of the Year, the Volvo XC60 is the Utility Vehicle of the Year and the Lincoln Navigator was named Truck of the Year. Huh? I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: they have to rewrite the rules for these categories because vehicles that are winning aren’t really what they are being judged to be.
First, I have no problem with the Accord. Good car. There are about 60 voting members on the jury and they undoubtedly picked the right car. But that’s as far as it goes.
The Utility Vehicle category was invented some years ago to fill a need, because the rules for trucks are too strict. To qualify for any of these prizes, a vehicle has to be new or mostly new. When it comes to trucks, trucks are pretty much the same year after year, so some years there were no trucks entered in the trucks category. Ergo, they came up with the Utility Vehicle.
But a utility vehicle, to my mind, has to be able to drop off the kids at school before going to a lumber yard to pick up a load of wood. Or a book- case from Ikea. Maybe the Volvo can do that; I don’t know. But it looks more like a family car to me. So, scrap the Utility Vehicle business and replace it with “SUV of the Year” and it would make more sense.
And it’s laughable to say the Lincoln Navigator is a truck. A Dodge Ram is a truck. A Ford F-150 is a truck. A Lincoln Navigator is not a truck. It is a large SUV or (shudder) a utility vehicle.
So have the Car of the Year, the SUV of the Year and the Truck of the Year, and if no trucks are entered, only give out two awards. It would make much more sense.
Here are the major unveilings from Detroit:
Ford introduced the all-new 2019 Ranger, a mid-size truck that’s chock full of driver-assist technologies for highway or off-road travel.
Ford also marked the 50th anniversary of the Steve McQueen movie Bullitt by bringing out a limited edition 2019 Mustang Bullitt 5.0litre V8 that contains 475 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque, and when let loose, can reach a speed of 262 km/h. Steve’s granddaughter, Molly McQueen, was on hand for the introduction that also featured the original Mustang that Steve McQueen drove in the immortal movie car chase through the streets of San Francisco.
Not to be outdone in the celebrity department, Mercedes-Benz brought in Arnold Schwarzenegger to introduce the new MercedesBenz G-Class. The “Terminator” talked about how he’d gone from body building to acting to politics and compared his talents to the G Wagon’s ability to transfer from pavement to snow and mud.
Chevrolet rolled out the 2019 Silverado (see Jim Kenzie’s report below), and Nissan and Infiniti introduced the experimental Xmotion and Q Inspiration Concept.
FCA brought out the all-new 2019 Ram 1500 pickup and this marked the first redesign of this vehicle since 2009. The big focus is on safety, with 100-plus features.
Lexus unveiled the Limitless LF-1 concept, a design said to have the flexibility to fit into a number of categories. Lexus said the vehicle’s technology would serve as a bridge between the present and the approaching era of electric vehicles (EV) and mobile connectivity.
BMW illustrated its commitment to electrification by making world premieres of the all-wheel drive BMW X2 and the BMW i8 Coupe roadster.
Volkswagen revealed two cars, a GT configuration of the Passat and the all-new Jetta.
Hyundai held the world premiere of the performance-focused but very safety-conscious 2019 Veloster — a “sexy coupe,” according to one Hyundai executive.
Acura introduced its third-generation Acura RDX Prototype.
Kia held the global debut of the 2019 Forte sedan, which was described as “bold, strong and ready to rock the compact segment.”
Toyota unveiled the all-new 2019 Avalon, which it described as being longer, wider, lower and sportier.
Chinese automaker GAC rolled out its new small sedan, GA4, and its compact sport-utility concept vehicle, Enverge. The company hopes to start selling vehicles in North Amer- ica in 2019.
Tuesday morning, Jeep unveiled the second-generation mid-size Jeep Cherokee with a new engine and new technology.
Now, before we get to what Canadian and Ontario government automotive adviser Tanguay said in his keynote address, several other major announcements of note must be included here:
Ford Chairman Bill Ford announced that the company will spend $11 billion and add 40 hybrid or fully electric vehicles to its model lineup by 2022. (At the same time, Ford let it be known it would bring out a new Mustang Shelby GT500 in 2019 that will boast more than 700 horsepower. Nice to see that Ford is not turning its back on the Woodward Ave. crowd.)
BlackBerry Executive Chairman and CEO John Chen unveiled BlackBerry Jarvis, a software cybersecurity product. “Connected and autonomous vehicles require some of the most complex software ever developed, creating a significant challenge for automakers who must ensure the code complies with industry and manufacturer-specific standards while simultaneously battle-hardening a very large and tempting attack surface for cybercriminals,” he said.
OK, in his keynote address Sunday, Tanguay said Ontario and Canada will strive to maintain key roles in North American automotive production and are determined to play a greater role in autonomous vehicle development and deployment.
“Ontario’s goal is to mimic Germany’s decision to embrace artificialintelligence technologies behind autonomous driving so that the nation and its crucial industrial sector could remain competitive for decades,” he said.
“Germany recognized that to compete, they had to do something different. We (in Canada) have to do the same thing. We have to be able to embrace technology and protect (auto) jobs.”
Tanguay said Ontario has automotive talent — in spades.
“People will invest where the talent is,” he told the Star in an interview. “We can develop solutions that will be beneficial to business, whether it’s deep-machine learning or artificial intelligence. We will take your problem and give you a solution that you will have a hard time finding anywhere else.”
Siemiatycki, of the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science, who did his Master’s degree on automobile manufacturing in Oshawa, picked up the theme.
“The difference between Ontario and every other jurisdiction in North America, is that we are a leading automotive manufacturing hub,” he told the Star.
“In 2016, we built the most vehicles in North America — more than Michigan, more than Ohio, more than North Carolina, more than any of them. We built a total of 2.4 million vehicles. We are also the second largest IT sector in North America, after Silicon Valley. No one knows that; we don’t promote it as well as we should.
“We have 280,000 workers. You put auto and IT together and you are smack dab in the middle of where the auto industry is going.
“Michigan has a great auto sector, but they don’t have an IT sector. Silicon Valley has a great IT sector, but they don’t have an auto sector. We have both. There isn’t another place in North America, maybe even the world, that has the mix of auto and IT in one place.
“That is the direction the industry is going, and we are perfectly positioned to take advantage of that.”
He said that the Ontario government is working with Uber to “digitize” the streets of Toronto in cooperation with the University of Waterloo.
And he said Uber is paying for most of it. “The companies are pushing in this direction because there’s a market. It’s not for automobiles, it’s for mobility. That’s what Uber is doing, that’s what Lyft is doing. Other companies are climbing on board because they are realizing that transportation is changing, particularly for millennials.”
Ontario, Waterloo and U of T aren’t alone downstairs at Cobo Center. U.S. universities and startups from both countries have booths and displays focusing on all things mobility, from self-driving cars to connected cars and EVs to ride-sharing and smart cities of the future.
As I said in the beginning, there are two shows going on in Detroit these days — the “old” one on the main floor and the “new” one downstairs. How soon before they switch places? nmcdonald@thestar.ca