Unlike with the Car of the Year “surprise” (we incorrectly predicted the Passat) the North American Truck of the Year award actually went to the vehicle your humble editors expected. The Land Rover Range Rover Evoque simply advances the entire luxury crossover segment to stylish new heights unmatched by the other finalists to be ignored by the judges. Awkwardly enough, Jaguar/Land Rover didn’t choose to participate in this year’s NAIAS so they won’t be able to brag about their new award to the 800,000 people expected to attend the upcoming public show. Oops.
One of the most anticipated industry awards is the annual North American Car and Truck of the Year awards. The title is highly coveted by automakers due in no small part to the proprietary nature of the voting by 50 journalists from the United States and Canada. The Hyundai Elantra beat out the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Passat to take the 2012 award even though your humble editors had publicly predicted a Passat victory. Though photos and video of the 2011 Elantra were mistakenly displayed as a Hyundai executive accepted the award, make no mistake that the 2012 Elantra is a car that appears to be deserving of the accolades. Read more…
Properly covering an International Auto Show requires a lot of hardware and the AT Crew brought enough gadgets to produce a 24-hour cable news channel. Unfortunately the show doesn’t open until tomorrow and we’ve got things to say today so we repurposed our hotel suite into a makeshift soundstage and set the camera rolling. We highlight some of the expected stars of the show and go on the record with our predictions for North American Car and Truck of the Year in the best 36 minutes you’ve ever seen produced in a hotel living room.
Normally we’d be asking for sympathy as we setup residence in the winter wonderland of Detroit to cover the North American International Auto Show, but truth be told the temperatures this year are mild and there isn’t a snowflake to be found. But even if a blizzard descended there’s no place we’d rather be since the annual kick-off to auto show season always delivers the stunning concepts and fresh production debuts we crave. We’re expecting a good show this year as the automakers close the books on a resurgent 2011 and look forward to a growing market this year. Tomorrow we’ll be onsite bringing you all the pictures, news and video you’ve come to expect from us, but for tonight here’s a preview of what’s to come. Read more…
We’d be lying if we said there’s never an amusing moment behind the scenes of Automotive Trends, and even more so during an auto show. So we figured we would shed a bit of light on what happens during our coverage of the NAIAS Press Days. Click through for more video and a gallery of the moments you’re not supposed to see. Read more…
The cars are all packed up and the displays have been torn down and shipped to the Windy City, but the memories from this year’s Detroit Auto Show extravaganza still dance in our dreams like sugar plum fairies. Ok, actually something far cooler than that, but the bottom line is we don’t want it to be over. So we thought we would rekindle a wee bit of the flame that was the 2011 NAIAS and put to work a few more of the 4,000-plus shots our highly-caffeinated photog snagged. Click through to have a look at some bonus galleries from this year’s show. Read more…
Automakers had a lot to celebrate at this year’s North American International Auto Show. The first of which was simply being at this year’s auto show. After surviving a period filled with bankruptcies, shuttered brands, mergers, recalls and the Great Recession, all but one company saw sales rise in 2010. A little recall you might have heard about is responsible for Toyota’s negative sales performance. With the worst hopefully consigned to history, the industry is setting its sights on how best to entice cautious consumers in 2011. Each company will approach this challenge differently. While their results will vary, one thing is certain: car buyers will be the real winners. If you can’t make it to Detroit to see all the new offerings on display, allow us to highlight the winners at this year’s auto show. Read more…
Kia used the Detroit Auto Show to reveal a possible entry into, of all things, a dormant segment. The KV7 is a concept designed to do a van right. It’s not one of these minivans that pretends to be manly or sporty or something it’s not. Kia designers wanted to build a van that was proud of its shape. Read more…
Even when there were approximately 67 better options Chevrolet still managed to sell a lot of Aveos. So GM Brass should be feeling pretty confident about the Sonic’s future now that Chevy’s new compact class entrant can take on any competitor without excuse. Read more…
