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We traveled to the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) for the Industry Preview Day on 17 Jan and, boy, did we see some sweet rides! Here are our highlights: The new RAM 1500 pickup truck … Motor Trend’s 2013 truck of the year … 25 MPG and a whole lot of nice design features! You’ll like this one. Any RAM fans out there?
General Motors debuted it totally redesign 2014 Corvette; the new C7 model. This picture shows the revolutionary redesign. Most remarkably is the redesign of the interior. This Vette is definitely departing from the molds of the past. As soon as this hits the car lots, you need to go see this one!
But this was my personal favorite. Bill Ford, Jr. purchased this model last month in December 2012. He bough it through an auction from the owner in Indiana. The selling price was about $270,000 and it looks like he got a steal. This is the oldest Ford production model in existence on the planet; a Ford Model A.
As auto shows go, this one was the best I’ve ever seen. And I’ve been to a few. My sense is the manufacturing industry in the U.S. is on the rebound and the manufacturers are rushing to showcase their new designs. I didn’t see a big emphasis on electric cars. I saw a lot of high performance designs and many hybrids. But not many electrics. The breakthrough technologies were in an area that you may not have guessed … sense and avoid. Lincoln has a technology that uses the rear and side mirror cameras as some sort of “auto pilot” that helps the driver stay in between the lines on the highway; “lane departure warning”. Another showcase technology presented by Mercedes was “accident avoidance” where the car’s computer system will take over the braking system to avoid a collision. What surprised me was that these technologies were not just in the prototype, but actually included in the new production models. You’ll want to watch for these releases and consider their advantage for your next purchase. The safety implications will probably be significant.
