2002 Los Angeles Show, Part III

2002 Los Angeles Auto Show by TCC Team (1/3/2002)

sponsored by Toyota

 

WAGONS HO!

Is the much-maligned station wagon making a comeback? First shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show last autumn and now in Los Angeles, Volvo’s Performance Car Concept 2 is unabashedly described as a wagon, though product development director Lars Erik Lundgren would like to find another way to describe it. “We struggled for years and years for a name replacing ‘wagon,’ because of the negative connotations,” he admits. “We couldn’t find a better name.” Ford, on the other hand, went with the name, “Fusion,” for one of the prototypes it has displayed in the City of Angels. Design chief J Mays stresses that tomorrow’s wagons won’t have much in common with the big bruisers that dominated the road in the ‘60s. They’ll be more functional, as well as stylish, incorporating attributes of SUVs, such as “command seating” and all-wheel-drive. And automakers will likely to seek other names for their wagon-like creations. But whatever they’re called, Lundgren says, “I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a rejuvenation of the wagon” among Gen X and Gen Y buyers who don’t have all the negative images of the Leave it to Beaver generation.

 

FORD BREWS COOL FUSION
Ford’s Fusion Concept is just barely that. It’s a thinly disguised version of the tall five-door production vehicle that will take a bow in Geneva this coming spring. Based off the same platform as the new Ford Fiesta, it appears significantly larger, partly due to its height, yet is far more stylish than the Japanese tall wagons of years past. The Fusion features a 1.1-liter direct injection gasoline engine, bi-xenon headlamps, which are twice as bright as normal lamps, all-wheel-drive and an array of multimedia equipment onboard. Though the production model is slated for sale in Europe, the show car is in L.A. for a very specific reason, according to Ford design chief J Mays. If the reaction is strong, “there is the possibility of bringing it in” to the U.S. What brand badge it would wear is unclear. Rather than aiming at an American model at the entry-level market, Mays hinted, Ford could load it with content and add it to the lineup “of one of our luxury brands.”

 

FORD TRIES TO TH!NK AGAIN
Ford also formally pulled the wraps off the second model in its “green” Th!nk brand’s lineup. The City is a slightly bigger and more traditional vehicle than the golf cart-like Neighbor, which was launched last year. The City is aimed at urban users who won’t travel far but want something flexible, nimble and clean for around-town use. The battery vehicle gets up to 50 miles on a charge, and a top speed of 60 mph. It boasts a number of safety features, including frontal airbags. Other potentials markets include government agencies and corporate fleets.

 

KIA GOES TROPHY HUNTING
Korean carmaker Kia has posted some impressive sales gains in recent years, including a 39-percent jump last year, bringing its American volume to 223,000, its seventh consecutive annual record. (Korean carmakers, as a group, saw sales top a record 600,000 for 2001.) The sibling division to Korea’s giant Hyundai, Kia has also been a strong contender in off-road racing in recent years. Now the carmaker is gunning for big game, the Score Desert Series. It brought its new Trophy Truck racer to Los Angeles, along with its new team leader, off-road champ Darren Skilton. The monstrous, mean-looking one-seater weighs in at just 3500 pounds, a definite advantage in a heavyweight class, and a fact that Kia hopes will overcome its relatively limited power—350 hp from a new 3.5-liter V-6.

 

MPV THE SPORTS CAR OF MINIVANS?
Another product niche that doesn’t get much respect these days is the minivan. Yet Mazda continues to put plenty of emphasis on its MPV model, insisting the compact mini deserves a place alongside today’s more popular SUVs. The Ford affiliate brought two MPV variants to Los Angeles, including the updated 2002 version. It features a revised exterior, some interior upgrades and 20 percent more power, 240 hp, in all, from its 3.0-liter, 24-valve V-6. Even with that boost, it gets slightly better fuel economy than the old MPV. An upgraded front suspension also should reduce body roll, for a more performance-oriented ride, promised Mazda’s top U.S. executive, Charlie Hughes. The price of the ’02 models will be cut $550, with the base LX beginning at $22,250. Mazda also unveiled an MPV Concept vehicle, which featured more aggressive, sports-car like styling cues. Despite such efforts to upgrade the minivan’s image, Hughes acknowledged, “that (minivan) market is going to decline for some time.”

 

MAXING OUT THE MINI
The official U.S. launch of the new Mini brand is still more than two months away, yet the British subsidiary of BMW came to the Left Coast with its second model. The Mini Cooper S is the high-performance upgrade of the base Mini Cooper, its intercooled turbo boosting power to an impressive 163 horsepower for this pocket-sized two-door. Company officials claim it will screech from 0-60 in 6.9 seconds. BMW sold 25,000 Minis in Europe during the abbreviated 2000 calendar year, and feels confident there’ll be more than enough demand to top 20,000 in the States. If anything, the automaker intends to limit availability, in part to keep it from becoming a brief-lived shooting star. “If this becomes a fad, it will be the death of Mini,” acknowledged the brand’s U.S. boss, Jack Pitney. Final prices won’t be announced for a few more weeks, but look for the Mini Cooper S to come in under $21,000, Pitney hinted. The British marque intends to offer a vast array of accessories, from flag decals for the roof to a navigation system, and that could run up the price of the typical Mini by $2000 or more, BMW is betting. During the 40-year run of the original, there were more than 100 variants of the Mini, and you can expect “We will bring other variants” of the new Mini, too, Pitney promised.

 

MITSU’S EVOLUTION ON WHEELS
Mitsubishi will launch an edgy, performance version of its new Lancer in January 2003, the Japanese automaker announced from its show stand. Dubbed the Lancer Evolution VII, the compact sedan will feature a 250-horsepower V-6 and such street racer necessities as big Brembo brakes. The target is clearly the young “rice burner” crowd that has long been dominated by “slammed” versions of the Honda Civic. Mitsu also plans to take the Evolution racing with a new SCCA team, six-time winner of the Pikes Peak championship. Could Evolution strike twice? The carmaker lifted the veil on a radical remake of the Montero SUV, also wearing the Evolution badge. Mitsubishi is currently working on the design for the next-generation of its flagship sport-ute, and “that’s the direction we’d like to go,” suggested the automaker’s U.S. Chief Operating Officer, Pierre Gagnon. But don’t expect anything near as radical, cautioned Mitsu insiders.