The Future Is Now at N.Y., Geneva Auto Extravaganzas
The world’s car makers, and their customers, no longer are satisfied with the basics: passenger car for people, truck for cargo and towing, and an off-road model or two for the few brave souls who aren’t afraid that gravel will ding their paint.
Today’s market requires luxury and near-luxury cars and trucks, crossovers, sporty wagons, wagony-coupes, hatchbacks and high-performance versions of all.
As usual, the annual Geneva auto show, which opens to the public Thursday and runs through the 17th, and the New York auto show, running from March 29 to April 7, are good for a glimpse of things to come.
And Porsche on Tuesday finally let us in on what its first SUV, the Cayenne, will look like.
Two vehicles sharing the limelight at Geneva are Volkswagen’s Phaeton and Chrysler’s topless PT Cruiser. The first is the answer to a question few have asked: When is VW going to do a luxury car? The second hopes to answer one that is frequently asked: How do you stoke new interest in a fading pop star?
And at the New York show, Nissan will show what it is doing to move beyond fast passenger cars and supercharged trucks and SUVs. We have only a rendering to share, but it clearly illustrates that Nissan’s stylists are having a field day with the 2004 Murano, a large crossover sport wagon built on the same platform as the new 2003 Altima and the upcoming ’04 Maxima and Quest.
Chrysler’s convertible Cruiser is a bid to rebuild interest in a retro-styled car-cum-panel truck that buyers at first couldn’t get enough of but that now is seen by some as growing tired and predictable. With Chrysler already supplying a flame-bedecked hot-rod Cruiser and a faux-wood-covered beach buggy Cruiser, a factory convertible (two Orange County companies already do custom Cruiser convertibles) was only a matter of time.
Chrysler officials say they expect the topless PT Cruiser to help the company boost its 15% share of the U.S. convertible market.
Separately, Chrysler officials used the Geneva show to announce that the company plans to build 20,000 boat-tailed, two-seat Crossfire sport coupes for release next year as a 2004 model. Although the car will be built in Germany as part of a platform-sharing program with Mercedes-Benz, the other half of DaimlerChrysler, most will be sold in the U.S., officials said.
At Volkswagen, they are heading in the opposite direction of the Beetle and other cars that made the brand an icon of affordability. The German auto maker’s Phaeton is a $50,000 to $85,000 VW intended to take the once-humble brand to stratospheric heights.
It will be VW’s most muscular car, available with a W-12 gasoline engine (think of side-by-side V-6s) or a V-10 that is the world’s most powerful passenger-car diesel engine. Four-wheel air suspension and a four-zone climate control system are standard, and VW’s 4Motion four-wheel-drive system will come with the 10- and 12-cylinder versions when the cars go on the market in Europe beginning in 2004.
Bernd Pischetsrieder, VW’s chief executive-designate, said Monday at the Geneva show that he doesn’t expect the Phaeton to be a high-volume car. Instead, it is being offered “to attract the customers who have grown with Volkswagen and to offer them adequate products in the upper segments as well.”
Critics say VW’s move into the ultra-luxury sector is self-defeating because it pits VW against its own luxury division, Audi, which does not have an equivalent of the Phaeton.
Phaeton buyers can initially choose a 3.2-liter, 241-horsepower V-6 or a 6.0-liter, 410-horsepower W-12 engine. Later comes the diesel powerhouse, a 4.5-liter V-10 with 313 horsepower.
And speaking of power, Porsche said its Cayenne SUV will come with a standard 4.5-liter V-8 rated at 340 horsepower and 310 pounds-feet of torque, with an optional twin-turbo version boosted to a mind-numbing 450 horsepower and 457 pounds-feet of wheel-turning torque.
In its first official photos, the Cayenne looks more like a sport wagon than an SUV, with a relatively low roofline (66.9 inches tall) and long (188.4 inches) body. Porsche says it will build 25,000 Cayennes during the first full year of production. The vehicles are scheduled to begin showing up at Porsche dealerships in the U.S. this summer.
