Detroit auto show back to what it does best: trucks

Next week, Detroit goes back to the future.

After auto executives spent years trying to convince the world they can beat Silicon Valley to electric cars and autonomous driving, they are finally getting a chance to crow once again about what they do best: trucks.

The highlights of Detroit’s perennial auto showcase, the North American International Auto Show, will be pickups and SUVs. Each of the hometown brands will pull the cover off a new flatbed, while at least three of the luxury brands roll out new SUVs.

Tesla won’t even be there. And for the first time in months, tow ratings will be discussed more heatedly than “transportation clouds” and Lidar algorithms.

The main event will be a monster truck war between Ford and Chevrolet. GM will show off the newest iteration of its Chevy Silverado, a full-size pickup that has been trounced of late by Ford’s F-150. Chevy already teased the truck in Texas, showing a sleeker rig with tiny LED slashes for headlights and creased body panels that ape a sports sedan more than the boxy aesthetic typical to the class.

Edmunds.com analyst Jeremy Acevedo says he won’t be surprised by something bold like some smatterings of carbon fiber.

“At this point, you’d think anything would be game,” he said. “Nothing’s off the table for them.”

Meanwhile, Ford steers back into the smallish truck race with its Ranger. Ford hasn’t sold a starter truck in the U.S. since 2011, deciding instead to pitch its Transit van to urban cowboys and HGTV wannabes. In the meantime, GM grabbed a huge share of the market with its midsize Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon. Ford never stopped making the Ranger abroad, but it assures that the U.S. version will be “all new.”