
2004 Ford auto show logo
2004 Detroit Auto
Show Coverage (1/4/2004)
Shelby Strikes Back

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Don’t head for the showroom yet, but odds are looking good that the
Shelby Cobra will be back in all new form in the not too distant future. Forty
years after he first teamed up with Ford Motor Co., Shelby has renewed his
relationship with the number two automaker, and the first product of that
partnership took a bow during an auto show dinner Sunday night. Think of it as a
“minimalist” muscle car, said Ford’s director of design, J Mays, “No roof, no
side glass, no radio and, thank God, not a single cupholder.” But the reborn
roadster does boast a 6.4-liter V-10 that, in normally-aspirated trim, puts out
605 horsepower and 501 lb-ft of torque through the car’s 19-inch rear wheels.
That’s enough to launch it from 0-60 in under 4.0 seconds and deliver an
ungoverned top speed of 190 mph. If that’s not enough, a supercharger
could “easily hit 700” hp, according to
advanced product chief Chris Theodore. Like its crosstown competitors, Ford
officials insisted that their new supercar is “just a concept,” but they didn’t
work very hard to convince the crowd. “We built the Ford GT a year after we
showed the concept,” conceded Mays, and we built the Mustang a year after we
showed you that concept. You do the math. How much would a product Cobra add up
to? Definitely less than the $139,000 Ford GT, and more likely in line with the
Dodge Viper, in the $80,000 to $90,000 range, it appears. In production, Ford
would likely add roll-up windows and a very basic, removable
soft-top.
Mustang
Madness Hits TCC

2005 Ford Mustang with Bill Ford
TheCarConnection
learned firsthand how much interest there is in the new Mustang when it posted
the first complete story about the production pony car Saturday night. It took
three hours for the site’s servers to recover. What design chief J Mays called
“The soul of the Ford Motor Co.” will take on a new look for 2005. Or an old
look, if you prefer, the ’05 boasting a retro, ‘67 design but a very modern
chassis, the first time that’s been reengineered since 1979. Initially, buyers
will be offered two engine options, a 202-hp V-6 and a 300-hp V-8, both starting
at under $20,000. A variety of packages will follow, including a new Mustang GT
and the top-line Cobra. The new Mustang’s twin-binnacle interior also borrows
liberally from the past, while making use of modern materials and new
technology. That includes an instrument display system that lets an owner choose
what color lighting to use.
Cloudy
Crystal Balls
Things
weren’t quite as bad as everyone expected in 2003, but industry leaders seem to
fear sounding too optimistic about 2004. The general consensus appears to be
that sales for the new year should top 17 million. “The only question,”
according to Joe Eberhardt, Chrysler Group executive vice president-global
sales, marketing, and service, “is by how much?” The traditional industry
forecasting tools just don’t seem to work anymore, added Ford Chairman Bill
Ford. That’s likely the result of what he dubbed a “hellaciously competitive”
market where incentives seem unbound by gravity. And unlike past years, where
rebate-fed sales booms were followed by sharp downturns, there seems to be
little “pull-forward” effect these days. The presidential elections could play a
factor in the economic recovery, industry officials noted, but so could the fear
of terrorism, said another insider, pointing to the recent string of
international air flights canceled because of security concerns. Not
surprisingly, the carmakers most bullish, also have strong new line-ups for the
coming year. “With all our products,” said Eberhardt, “we’re confident about
2004.”
Solstice
Could Spawn Range

2006 Pontiac Solstice
General Motors officially rolled out the production version of its Pontiac Solstice,
two years after it first appeared in Detroit as a concept roadster. The
transition from concept to customer wasn’t easy, requiring GM to develop the all-new
Kappa platform to maintain what Vice Chairman Bob Lutz called “the emotional
intent” of the original show car. The automaker also will hold to the concept’s
proposed price tag of less than $20,000 for the base vehicle. The 2005 Solstice
will boast a 2.4-liter Ecotec DOHC four-cylinder engine producing 170 horsepower and
mated to a close-ratio, short-throw Aisin five-speed manual transmission. An
automatic transmission will follow.

2004 Chevrolet Nomad concept
The
Kappa “architecture” was designed to be particularly flexible, pointed out GM’s
new design director, Ed Wellburn. That means it can be raised, lowered,
shortened or lengthened in order to allow for distinctive new spin-offs. Two
examples appeared during GM’s news conference. The Nomad borrows its name and
design concept from a 1954 show car. It’s a difficult-to-characterize design
that is part MINI Cooper, part Solstice and part station wagon. The Kappa
architecture was raised, then stretched two inches to give Nomad 2+2 seating.
And a turbocharged version of the 2.2-liter Ecotec engine makes 210 horsepower.
Asked whether Nomad might see the lights of a showroom, Wellburn cautioned
“there are no production plans.” Not yet, anyway, but he quickly added that
“there’s an awful lot of interest in the company.”

2004 Saturn Curve
Saturn’s new Curve concept seems a bit less likely to make
the transition to market
—
at
least in current form, but it does suggest that GM sees the need to focus on
adding more emotional design to the Saturn brand. "We wanted to do something for
Saturn that's both expressive and attractive," explained Anne Asensio executive
director of advanced products. "It's the first signal we're getting serious
about Saturn." Under Curve’s clamshell hood sits a supercharged Ecotec putting
out 200 horsepower.
Ford
Bronco Bucking from Brazil

2004 Ford Bronco concept
Whether it’s due to a shortage of new names, or simply a desire to rediscover
its roots, Ford Motor Co. has resurrected the old Bronco nameplate, albeit in
show-car form. The prototype looks “as if we started with a chunk of iron” and
began milling it into a “piece of equipment, rather than a status symbol,”
suggested Ford design director Mays. The most notable design elements included
Bronco’s boxy, upright roofline, round headlamps and the Bronco nameplate etched into
the three-bar grille. Slightly smaller than the Ford Escape SUV, the show
car features a 2.0-liter common-rail Duratorq TDCi engine borrowed from Ford
of Europe. The torquey little diesel
can get a bit of added performance thanks to an onboard nitrous oxide injection
system.
Put Up
Or…

2005 Ford Five Hundred
Ford officials keep insisting this is “the year of the car.”
The North American International Auto Show gave them an opportunity to put up,
rather than shut up. The automaker rolled out several critical passenger cars on
Sunday, starting with the new Five Hundred sedan, one of several vehicles that
will ultimately replace the aging Taurus sedan. The Five Hundred boasts a new
layout designed to maximize interior space. Though significantly shorter than
the Ford Crown Victoria, it has several inches more rear legroom
—
along with a trunk large
enough to carry eight full-size golf bags. The new sedan will be offered in both
front- and all-wheel-drive configurations. Though a six-speed will be available
with the FWD package, a new, fuel-saving Continuously Variable Transmission will
be the primary option mated to a 3.0-liter V-6.
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