The Pros and Cons of the Cars of Tomorrow

[wt2ga]

The Wall Street Journal .. By Joseph B. White
Jan. 18, 2007

It is January, and that can only mean one thing: It is time to play "Build It or Bag It," in which car enthusiasts can give thumbs up or down to the design ideas put forward by automakers at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. This year's show, which opened to the public Saturday after media previews last week, lacked a knockout car designed for actual production – comparable to last year's Chevy Camaro concept, which is headed to showrooms in about two years. Some media folks complained that this year's show was relatively quiet, reflecting perhaps the uncertainty about the prospects of the Detroit auto giants. Still, the designers and technology futurists who like to use auto shows to gauge interest in their out-of-the-box ideas didn't come up completely empty, as ideas for alternatives to internal-combustion engines took the spotlight.

Here is a look at a few of the potential cars of tomorrow.

Chevrolet Volt: The most talked about concept car at this year's show is General Motors Corp.'s latest salvo in its battle to persuade consumers and lawmakers that it is just as serious about greening the automobile as Toyota Motor Corp. The Volt is a show car, but not a real car. GM said the Volt was designed to exhibit what the company calls its "E-Flex" propulsion system. Instead of using a small gas engine to propel the car in tandem with a battery-powered electric motor, as in the Toyota Prius, the Volt would use a small gas engine solely to recharge a lithium-ion battery pack. Electricity from those batteries – the same type that power laptop computers – would power the vehicle. The batteries also could be recharged by plugging into the power grid, perhaps through a wall socket. Thus, GM got points for taking seriously the concept of a plug-in hybrid, which is all the rage in certain circles.

Pros: The Volt's exterior design, a scaled-down car that borrows strongly from the look of the Camaro concept, would look pretty good on a real Chevy small car. And the E-Flex power system is a great idea.

Cons: The technology to make a car like the Volt reliable and affordable doesn't exist. GM is looking for the federal government to help cover the cost of developing lithium-ion batteries that won't cost too much or catch on fire.

Jaguar CX-F: This is one of the more dramatic show cars on display in Detroit among the category of cars that might actually see production. AutoWeek, the enthusiast magazine, dubbed the CX-F "Best in Show" among the concept cars. Bristling with technology, the CX-F had a supercharged 4.2-liter V-8 rated at more than 400 horsepower.

Pros: The CX-F is a step forward for Jaguar design chief Ian Callum's effort to rescue the brand from irrelevance. The British luxury brand has a potent-looking vision of what 21st-century Jags might be: sporty, fast and a little mean.

Cons: It should have been on the road years ago.

Toyota FT-HS: On the surface, the concept car is yet another version of Toyota's effort to use gas-electric hybrid drive technology for the purposes of boosting power and performance. The inelegantly named FT-HS impresses with a gas-electric power plant that can produce 400 horsepower from a 3.5-liter V-6.

Pros: Get ready for the Son of Supra. After a long hiatus, bad-boy Toyotas are coming back.

Cons: Most people willing to pay the extra price for a gas-electric hybrid want the system to deliver superior fuel economy, not a kick in the pants from a stoplight.

Lincoln MKR: The MKR represents a stab at a new direction. Built using some of the underpinnings of the Ford Mustang rear-wheel-drive chassis, the MKR offers a futuristic interpretation of the classic Lincoln "waterfall grille," and an athletic stance not seen in Lincoln cars since, well, forever.

Pros: At last, a Lincoln car concept that looks like something.

Cons: Ford is such a mess, it may not be able to make a production version