Youze either go big—or fuhgeddaboutit!—in the Big Apple

April 10, 2007 - Story and pics by John LeBlanc

NEW YORK, New York – The General gives Hefner’s triplets some competition: Have you ever walked the streets of Manhattan? If you have, you can’t tell me the unofficial vehicle of New York is not the Lincoln Town Car.

Preferred colour? Black, and heavy on the tint, or just fuhgeddaboutit!

Metaphorically, the bada boom, bada bling Town Car signifies the traditional American luxury theme that’s usually found at the annual New York auto show,

But at this year’s Big Apple shindig, one of the most foretelling presentations came at the complete opposite end from the luxury car market: mini-cars.

Chrysler’s already committed to producing their Dodge Hornet sub-compact. And Ford’s green-lighted their next-generation European Ford Fiesta for future sale in North America.

Nonetheless, it looks like General Motors’ Chevrolet brand will be the first domestic carmaker to challenge Toyota’s influential, American-market-only Scion brand.

Seemingly hedging their bets, Chevrolet unveiled not one, not two, but three sub-compact concepts called Groove, Beat and Traxx. Each with their own personalities, they mimic Scion’s successful, mass customization product strategy.

DJ-inspired naming aside, according to Chevy, these are production-ready prototypes based on GM's new global mini-car platform. It will eventually underpin the next generation Opel/Saturn Corsa, Chevy Aveo and others worldwide.

Would you mind taking the “B” out of BOLD MOVES? Ahh, that’s better… Over at the Ford booth, apparently the well called Carroll Shelby hasn’t gone dry just yet.

Called the Shelby GT500KR, “King of the Road”, its 540 h.p. V8 makes it the most powerful Mustang ever.

Guaranteed, zero-to-sixty obsessed American muscle car zealots will snap up every last one of the 1,000 copies that go on sale a year from now.

Compared to the existing Shelby Cobra GT500, Ford says the higher ranking GT500KR’s suspension has been recalibrated to deliver improved steering feel and crisper handling.

A good thing. Calling the lesser GT500’s handling wooly would be an insult to sheep everywhere.

From a company that desperately needs some good news, the 2008 Ford Flex six- or seven-passenger crossover looks like a hit,

As the production version of the 2005 Fairlane concept, the Flex looks for all-the-world like a super-sized Mini Clubman. Standard will be a competent Volvo-chassis, a V6 engine with decent power and family-friendly pricing.

If you’re asking yourself, “Hey, doesn’t Ford already have a six- or seven-passenger crossover with a competent Volvo-chassis, a V6 engine with decent power and family-friendly pricing called the Taurus X, nee Freestyle?”

Yes, and you’re not alone in this crossover confusion.

OK. So that’s how you build a premium brand! It must have been very tempting for Infiniti product planners.

Simply slap a shiny grille on the existing Nissan Rogue cute-ute, market it as a “premium” compact SUV, then take the rest of the day off.

Infiniti has certainly had experience at such doomed practices.

(Chromed-over Nissan Maxima, cum Infiniti I30—come on down!)

Which is why the Infiniti EX Concept (a thinly veiled precursor to their upcoming production EX35 premium compact SUV) is based on the rear-wheel-drive G35 sports sedan—dynamic chassis, powerful V6 et al.

Already, the G35 sedan comes closest to knocking the vaunted 3 Series off its top perch.

Do the math. And then expect a familiar battle royale between the segment leading X3 and the upstart FX35.

Nice wheels, shame about the brand When the production version of Hyundai’s Genesis Concept arrives in 2008, it will be priced “well under $30,000.” A new RWD platform, sized between a BMW 5 and 7 Series with a V8 rated at “well over 300 horsepower,” the Genesis certainly seems to have all the boxes ticked to take on the established luxury brands.

But will Hyundai support the premium sedan with a premium sales and ownership experience?

Will Hyundai create custom sales and service areas for the Genesis buyers, loaner vehicles, complimentary car washes and free pick-up and delivery?

What about concierge services and business centres for customers?

How will the Genesis’ residuals value holdup in a segment where leasing is popular? Hmmm…

Or will the newest, and potentially brightest star in the Korean carmaker’s lineup end up like another Mazda Millenia, or Volkswagen Phaeton?

In other words, a fantastic car languishing under the wrong badge?

Stay tuned.