Σαλόνι αυτοκινήτου Detroit 2013 - Luxury, performance drive buzz at Detroit auto show

(Reuters) - This year's Detroit auto show, which opens next week, has a decidedly "green" theme. Green as in the colour of money, that is.An aura of luxury pervades many of the show's new models as automakers from Europe, Asia and the Motor City itself strive to bring more affluent consumers in to showrooms. Whether one seeks a sedan, coupe or crossover, pricy new choices are not in short supply..


A familiar companion to luxury is performance. Exuding both traits is a hometown show-stopper, the redesigned 2014 Chevrolet Corvette from General Motors Corp. (GM.N)

The long-awaited Corvette has been generating considerable buzz ahead of the show. The latest edition of "America's sports car" is only the seventh generation in six decades - with a formal unveiling slated for Sunday night. It should begin reaching dealers in late summer. Pricing may be in the general realm of the current 2013 Corvette, which starts at $50,595.

A trio of expensive performance models from Europe, all priced from well over $100,000, is headed to the U.S. market in the coming year and they, too, will be on display at the show.

Leading the pack is the redesigned 2014 Maserati Quattroporte, which Chrysler's Italian parent, Fiat SpA (FIA.MI), hopes will spearhead a resurgence of the Maserati brand when it arrives here in summer. The new Quattroporte shares its basic underbody architecture with the Chrysler 300 and features a twin-turbocharged 523-horsepower V8.

Also on view will be the potent 2014 BMW (BMWG.DE) M6 Gran Coupe, a sporty four-door with a twin-turbo 560-horsepower V8 that hits dealers this summer, and the 2014 Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible, from Volkswagen AG's (VOWG_p.DE) British uber-luxury brand.

The soft-top Bentley, which goes on sale in late summer, claims to be "the world's fastest convertible," thanks to a 616-horsepower 12-cylinder engine that pushes the all-wheel-drive two-door to a top speed of 202 miles per hour.

OPULENCE, ACCELERATION

From Japan, Honda Motor Co (7267.T) will bring the latest concept version of its 2016 Acura NSX sports car, which aims to redefine performance with one of the world's first high-output hybrid drive systems.

The future NSX, which will enter production in two years, is a two-seater that will feature all-wheel drive, a mid-mounted V6 gasoline engine and three electric motors, producing a combined 500 horsepower.

For those well-heeled buyers slightly more concerned with image and looks than acceleration and top speed, a new mid-size sport coupe and three redesigned sport sedans will be on the show floor.

They include BMW's Concept 4 Series Coupe - essentially a reworked and renamed 3 Series two-door; the latest generation of Toyota Motor Corp's (7203.T) Lexus IS series, which competes head-to-head with the 3 Series; Nissan Motor Co's (7201.T) new Infiniti Q50, which replaces the outgoing G series later this year, and Hyundai Motor Co's (005380.KS) HCD-14 concept, which previews the next-generation Genesis sedan.

Showgoers will also get a look at the updated Mercedes-Benz E-class line from Daimler AG (DAIGn.DE), but the company is providing only a private preview to journalists of its new 2014 CLA sedan, a sporty-looking "quad coupe" that will be the centrepiece of the automaker's Super Bowl TV advertising in early February.

Opulence spills over into the crossover segment, where VW's Audi affiliate will unveil its performance-oriented SQ5, Ford Motor Co's (F.N) Lincoln brand hopes to kindle interest with its new 2014 MKC and Chrysler's Jeep brand will show off the facelifted 2014 Grand Cherokee.

FIRST 'GREEN' CADILLAC

Look also for a sneak preview of the redesigned 2014 Acura MDX, which will appear as a thinly disguised "concept."

GM's first luxury hybrid, the 2014 Cadillac ELR, will make its public debut at the show, about a year ahead of the projected on-sale date. The two-door ELR is an upmarket companion to the Chevrolet Volt and is likely to be priced above $60,000.

Among the more mainstream vehicles coming to the show are the Nissan Resonance, a preview of the redesigned 2014 Murano crossover; the Honda Urban SUV concept, which teases the redesigned 2014 Fit subcompact, and the Fiat 500L, a compact five-passenger people-mover that will be marketed as a companion to the tiny Fiat 500 hatchback.

A larger crossover, a seven-passenger model based on the Passat sedan and built in Tennessee, is expected from VW.

Toyota will provide a peek at the redesigned 2014 Corolla compact with its Furia concept, and Nissan will flesh out its compact Versa family with the new Versa Note hatchback.

Trucks remain a mainstay of the U.S. market, as evidenced by the public debut of the redesigned 2014 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra.

They will be challenged by a concept version of the redesigned Ford F-150 pickup, with the production F-series truck still more than a year away. (Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Toyota drops "plain vanilla" styling with eye on Hyundai's rise

(Reuters) - When Tokuo Fukuichi was brought back to Toyota Motor Corp to become head of design, he was given a simple directive from President Akio Toyoda: make Toyota cars simple and cool. He took a risk and objected.
"I said, look, Mr. President, just cool is not good enough," Fukuichi told Reuters. "Toyota had already tried hard to fix ugly parts and make them look better. What Toyota lacks the most is character."
Fukuichi, 61, knows something about character. In the late 1980s, he designed the first generation Previa, also known as the "egg-van" -- one of the most love-it-or-hate-it Toyota vehicles ever.
For Toyoda, who has criticized his company for losing sight of the fun and excitement of the automobile and has tried to shake up its stodgy and engineer-dominated design process, Fukuichi brought the right kind of edginess to the job. In a rare move, he asked Fukuichi to rejoin Toyota in 2011 after he had left for group company Kanto Auto Works.
Two years on, Toyota's designs are starting to show signs of change. From luxury brand Lexus's pinched-in-the-middle "spindle" grille to the Auris hatchback's sharply angled headlights, Toyota is taking steps to distance itself from a legacy of "plain vanilla" styling.
Not everyone is happy. At a shareholders' meeting in June, the very first issue raised from the floor was a complaint about the new "face" of Lexus models. But Fukuichi is unfazed.
"If we don't take risks now, there will be no future for us," he said.
The latest evidence of Toyota's newfound willingness to take risks with the look of its cars will be on show at Monday's Detroit auto show when Toyota reveals the Furia concept sedan, expected to give consumers a sense of what is coming when it launches the next version of its top-selling Corolla sedan.
NOT A DEMOCRACY
Analysts say Toyota, the world's largest car maker by sales volume, has been driven to change. Toyota is being is squeezed between brands such as BMW and Volkswagen's Audi, which are seen as leaders in design, and a fast-rising rival in Hyundai that has won praise for the way it has managed to make its mass-market sedans look far more expensive than their sticker prices.
"Competitors are on the rise, and they are generally improving in areas such as safety technology and fuel efficiency," said Kunihiro Matsumoto, an autos analyst at UBS Securities in Japan.
"So Toyota needs to distinguish itself in other ways. There is still room for Toyota to improve its products through design."
Toyota executives know that their cars have traditionally sold on quality rather than looks. Some, like generations of the Camry, have been famed for an inoffensive styling that was aimed straight at the middle-of-the road.
"Before, our craftsmanship was focused on cutting out flaws. That led to cars that were not hated by anyone, but also not enthusiastically sought after by anyone," said Fukuichi.
In an effort to fix that, he has shaken up a tradition of design-by-committee.
About 100 panel members used to give scores to designs, which would then be tweaked to reflect their varying opinions and become less edgy. Some 30 executives were involved in making the final decision at the design tower in Toyota headquarters, near Nagoya.
Now, designers recommend the model they back most strongly. Comments from panel members are taken into consideration but do not necessarily determine the design, and the number executives with a say has been cut to a third of what it was.
"It's no longer a democratic decision," Fukuichi, told Reuters in a recent interview.
FORGET 'KAIZEN'
In recent years, Toyota's South Korean rivals Hyundai and its affiliate Kia have won kudos for styling, helping to transform the consumer image of those brands.
Hyundai last year hired former BMW designer Christopher Chapman as chief designer at its U.S. design center, while Kia promoted Peter Schreyer, a former Volkswagen designer, as the first foreign president.
In an effort to catch up, Toyota has paired more aggressive designs with edgy marketing, eyeing younger buyers.
Promotional images for the Crown luxury sedan that most buyers will seek in black or white have used a flamingo-pink version of the car, which features a big, lightning bolt-shaped grille, with the tagline "Reborn".
One Japanese newspaper ad has popular comedian and film director Takeshi Kitano staring at the new Crown as if he's not sure what to make of it.
Experts say one of Toyota's challenges will be building a continuity into its styling so consumers can recognize one of its models from a block away - as they can with Audi or BMW.
"There are many European automakers that have inherited design with their own identity. Japanese cars do not have that, and without the badge, it is hard to tell which brand it is," said Takao Kijima, a professor at the Tokyo University of Science, Yamaguchi who for years worked in the auto industry.
Toyota's engineering and production has been defined by the philosophy of "kaizen", or continuous improvement, helping it excel at refining existing technologies. But when it comes to design, Fukuichi says Toyota needs to throw out what has been one of the central organizing principles of the company.
"By doing kaizen, you might be able to be a fashion model with a good figure, but not an actress -- unforgettable even if she has a less attractive figure and an unusual face," he said.
Experts generally laud Toyota's efforts to change, although they caution it will be a tough message for the conservative company to absorb. Some warn that changing the design too aggressively for conservative signature cars -- like the Crown and Lexus models -- could alienate existing fans.
"Those cars are wonderful like really well-tailored, sophisticated suits," said Kunihisa Ito, a professor at College for Creative Studies in Detroit. "For Toyota to pursue an aggressive character, could mean losing its original beauty."
(Additional reporting by Kentaro Sugiyama; Editing by Kevin Krolicki and Alex Richardson)

Global car industry sharpens U.S. focus for 2013

 Reuters) - The U.S. car market's rebound may be slowing - but it still looks like the best bet to many of the global industry's top brass as they converge on Detroit for the 2013 auto show.
With Europe in a protracted meltdown and some emerging markets flagging, the United States will increase its share of world auto sales this year even as its economy cools, analysts and executives predicted ahead of Monday's media opening.
American light vehicle sales are expected to rise 4 to 7 percent with prices remaining strong, according to most estimates. That would outpace the 2.6 percent global expansion forecast by consulting firm LMC Automotive.
That is an alluring prospect for European brands fleeing the carnage at home and Japanese automakers hurt by a politically driven consumer backlash in China - where growth and pricing are less predictable for everyone.
"Even if China overtook the U.S. as our biggest-volume market, the U.S. is and will remain our second-most important market after Germany," Porsche CEO Matthias Mueller said.
The Volkswagen-owned (VOWG_p.DE) sports car maker thinks Europe would be "lucky" to see a recovery before 2015, Mueller said in an interview. "The situation is as critical as ever."
U.S. OUTPERFORMS
The North American International Auto Show, better known as the Detroit auto show, opens to the public on January 19.
Among new vehicles to be unveiled by European carmakers at this year's event are the SQ5 high-performance crossover from VW's Audi brand, BMW's (BMWG.DE) M6 Gran Coupe and the redesigned Maserati Quattroporte.
The European market, already near a 20-year low, will shrink another 1.7 percent this year to 17.8 million light vehicles, LMC predicts, while the United States grows 4.2 percent to 15.1 million.
By comparison, U.S. auto sales averaged nearly 17 million vehicles a year in the decade prior to 2008 when the recession cast a pall.
Although rising more sedately than last year's 13.4 percent surge, projected U.S. deliveries will account for 18.2 percent of the 82.7 million global total, compared with 17.9 percent in 2012.
"Right now, the U.S. is the healthiest auto market in the world," said John Casesa, senior managing director with Guggenheim Securities.
Sales growth will be close to zero in Brazil and will slow to 3.4 percent in Russia, according to the same forecasts, while China's expansion accelerates to 10.2 percent from 5.9 percent.
But with Chinese manufacturing capacity for 1.5 million additional vehicles coming on stream, some analysts warn that pricing and profitability could suffer this year.
Balancing China's enormous growth potential, "a certain amount of unsteadiness is a factor," Porsche's Mueller said.
Japanese automakers are still smarting in China, where public outrage over a territorial dispute has translated into more than 100,000 lost sales for Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and Nissan Motor Co Ltd (7201.T) since September.
That can only increase their appetite in the United States - where car sales by Asian and European brands both averaged 22 percent growth, compared with a 12 percent gain for domestic nameplates.
The yen's recent decline against the dollar will also give Japanese imports more edge, General Motors Co (GM.N) Chief Executive Dan Akerson acknowledged.
"People are going to be very competitive in this market," Akerson told reporters on Wednesday. "This is the market with the best margins."
While GM lost ground last year, it has broadly "held the line" since emerging from bankruptcy in 2009 and will soon benefit from the renewal of its aging lineup, Akerson said.
ENCOURAGING SIGNS
New pickup trucks being shown next week by Ford (F.N) and GM's Chevrolet and GMC may help the incumbents fight back.
Ford is also cautiously optimistic about 2013, the company's chief economist said this week.
A coming payroll tax hike may weigh on sentiment, Ellen Hughes-Cromwick said, but signs of a housing market rebound and progress in President Barack Obama's fiscal policy standoff with Congress are "favorable developments."
While economic growth will likely slow to 1.6 percent from last year's 2.2 percent, Citi analyst Itay Michaeli said, a glut of aging vehicles on U.S. roads promises to unlock "pent-up demand" for replacements in years to come.
"We may have only begun to see the U.S. sales recovery," Michaeli said.
The bullish outlook shows that American carmakers' drastic job and factory cuts of 2009 are still paying off, said Michael Tyndall of Barclays Capital.
"The U.S. took its medicine in the last crisis and capacity has remained relatively tight, so pricing remains disciplined," the London-based analyst said.
"The operative word is growth - whereas Europe is going backwards again."
(Additional reporting by Andreas Cremer in Berlin, and Bernie Woodall and Deepa Seetharaman in Detroit; editing by Matthew Lewis)