With all the talk about the concepts we saw in Detroit this past week, let’s travel back in time to the 2006 North American International Automotive Show and head towards the Aston Martin stand and the Rapide concept.

Ford’s then Aston Martin division showed a four door sedan essentially a DB9 coupe that has been stretched by 11.8 inches, built off the same aluminum VH architecture as both the DB9 and the two-seater V8 Vantage. It used a 480-hp; 5.9-liter V-12 engine mated to a ZF manu-matic transmission and weighed just 309 pounds more than the two-plus-two-seater DB9 coupe.

When Ford decided to skip out on Aston Martin the Rapide concept was 86’d. When the David Richards era started at Aston Martin one of the first orders of business was to resurrect the Rapide.
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One of the interesting tech stories at the North American International Auto Show this week, that has lacked coverage, focuses on Saab. They showed off, for the first time, Cross Wheel Drive.

XWD as it is known is said to offer capabilities that aren’t available on conventional all-wheel drive vehicles. In addition to providing a variable torque split between the left and right sides of the car, XWD can optimize traction when a vehicle takes off from a traffic light, even in dry conditions.

Steven Shannon, president and chief operating officer of Saab Automobile USA told us that “The beauty of this system is that it does more than transfer torque from the front to the back. It transfers torque from side to side. And with Cross Wheel Drive, zero-to-sixty is going to be faster.”
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In a year devoid of concept eye popping, I’ve got to have that car mania; the Cadillac CTS coupe concept has garnered much admiration. The interesting story is how this concept evolved.

Jim Taylor the General Manager of Cadillac told us about the coupe variant of the highly acclaimed CTS. It seems the design team wanted to do a coupe even though it wasn’t in their design plan. GM management riding on the wave of success signed off and told the team to proceed.
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Want to hear about real pressure to produce a winner? I spoke to John Krafcik, Executive VP at Hyundai yesterday about the new Genesis sedan. Krafcik told me that it cost a whopping $500,000,000 to bring the car from a white sheet to full production including engine development. With the stakes that high, the pressure is obviously on. 
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One of the tough aspects of broadcasting radio from the Detroit Auto Show is that you are literally glued to a chair in the studio. With an interview every 15 minutes there is virtually no time to attend any of the spectacular press conferences that unveil new hardware.

I was sort of caught off guard when I looked out of our Macomb entrance, street level studio glass window and saw a heard of cattle on the street. 115 longhorns to be precise. Dodge was using the cattle to usher in the 2009 Dodge Ram.

I guess longhorns in that number are more impressive then Rams.

I ran outside to take a shot.

What could be better on a Sunday morning than a hot cup of coffee & following up the CoW with Exhaust Notes, Jeff’s Bressler’s weekly podcast here in The Garage? I suppose heading to the track might be better. Or getting a bit of…well, scratch that. This is a family place! Still, we’ve got some pretty good stuff here this morning, so get ready to take a ride!

This week, Jeff tells the tale of the Japanese automaker that pushed the blue oval out of the #2 spot in North America. Who woulda thought that 20 years ago? As we approach the NAIAS it’s beginning to look like there is going to be a lot of green in Detroit this winter with news from several automakers. Jeff even has the goods on how Chrysler plans to take over the world. Narf.

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Despite Car and Driver magazine including the Honda Pilot in its annual selection of “5 Best Trucks” for six consecutive years, the SUV has fallen on hard times. Last year, Pilot sales rose 6.1 percent to 152,154 vehicles sold, but took a nosedive, down 22.2 percent so far this year as the vehicle nears the end of its model life.

Honda announced, certainly in the nick of time, that it will reveal a prototype of the next-generation Honda Pilot full-size sport-utility vehicle at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit next month

Honda stated that the new Pilot, which goes on sale next year, will feature bolder styling emphasizing its SUV attributes as well as new fuel-efficiency technologies.

The first web leaked photo of Land Rover’s long-awaited “Landie”, which will make its debut at the Detroit Motor Show next month, has appeared on the internet.

As an aside, with all the spy shots and photo leaking making their way on the web, TV and magazines, one wonders if it is not the manufacturers themselves who are the “leakees.”
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In October Nissan released an early exterior shot of their new FORUM minivan concept.

The concept is set to be unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in January.

From the sketch one of the cooler aspects of the vehicle I am looking forward to seeing first hand is the lack of B-pillars. The minivan will operate with trackless sliding doors.
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Kia has lost some of the dramatics surrounding the Detroit Auto Show revel of the 2009 Borrego. Pictures have started to float around cyberspace of Kia’s first entry into the midsize SUV market.

A V6 engine will be standard; while a new V8 - another first for the Kia brand - will be optional. The new SUV will incorporate the latest in noise and vibrations-reducing engineering, also offering consumers the Korean manufacturer’s renowned 10-year/100,000-mile warranty.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, kind of nondescript.