On the road, it’s already 2005
The calendar says nearly half a year remains for 2004, but it’s already 2005 in the global auto industry. Car companies worldwide are introducing next year’s models this summer. Some 2005 cars have been on the road for months.
The tradition of waiting until Oct. 1 to kick off the new season has been dying for years. It’s the victim of intense global competition, new technologies that have cut development and production times, computer-assisted engineering and design techniques that allow automakers to produce discernibly different cars and trucks using the same basic platforms and increasingly segmented and ever-changing consumer demands.
The result is that new models are introduced whenever they are ready. Also, many new car and truck introductions are seasonal: four-wheel-drive sport-utility vehicles in the winter, sports cars and convertibles in the spring and summer.
What remains of the Oct. 1 tradition is the excitement.
In Europe, the hoopla is over the 2005 BMW 120i hatchback, a “premium compact” car aimed at the pockets of the young and the affluent, generally meaning people 20 to 35 who are professionals or entrepreneurs earning good salaries but who still fall far short of “rich.”
The little rear-wheel-drive, 150-horsepower, four-cylinder BMW 120i -- priced at about $25,000 in U.S. currency -- won’t come to America soon. BMW, Mercedes-Benz and other big-name European car companies embrace the myth that Americans hate all hatchbacks, so the BMW 120i will go on sale in September all over the world except the United States.
But Mercedes-Benz believes it has what Americans want in the “premium compact” segment: speed, pizazz and prestige with four doors and a traditional notchback trunk lid. Based on that thinking, Mercedes-Benz has updated its fleet of compact C-class cars for 2005, the hottest of which will be the C55 AMG.
Jim Resnick, East Coast spokesman for Mercedes-Benz USA, said the C55 AMG will cost less than $40,000. That means it is a car for affluent people making measurable progress toward real wealth. For their money, they’ll get a nice-looking sedan equipped with a hand-built 5.5-liter, 362-horsepower V-8 engine that can move from 0 to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds.
Of the domestic companies, GM is the one to look at. The company’s Cadillac division is on a roll with its new CTS and CTS-V sports sedans, its SRX “crossover” sport-utility wagon and its XLR luxury roadster. For 2005, Cadillac is introducing a completely revised STS sedan with a 320-horsepower V-8 engine that is being hailed in the automotive media as a worthy competitor to Honda’s Acura RL and to Nissan’s Infiniti M45.
That may seem like a trifle to people who do not follow the car industry closely, but it has been decades since Cadillac has received that kind of approbation from the car-enthusiast media.
On the lower-cost end, GM is introducing the Chevrolet Cobalt as a replacement for the serviceable but much-maligned economy compact. It is a front-engine, front-wheel-drive two-door coupe with three engine offerings, the best of which (in terms of performance) is a 2.2- liter, supercharged, 205-horsepower, four-cylinder model. Cobalt base prices will range from $15,000 to $20,000.
Ford is bringing forth its full-size Audi-like front-wheel-drive Five Hundred passenger car to replace the Ford Taurus. The exterior isn’t stunning, but the Five Hundred’s passenger cabin is one of the best Ford, or anyone else, has developed for a family sedan.
Ford also is introducing its seven-passenger Freestyle sport-utility wagon. It’s available with front-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive. It looks good, but it’s a latecomer to the sport-utility-wagon party.
And Chrysler has Hemi-ed its way back to stardom with its high-powered hemispheric combustion chamber engines in such models as its 300-Series sedans and Dodge Magnum station wagon. Its 2005 Crossfire and PT Cruiser convertibles are already at dealerships.
People who want to buy the first Chrysler automobile priced in the $50,000 range will get that chance in 2005 with the Chrysler Crossfire SRT-6 convertible. No, it doesn’t have a Hemi; it comes with a supercharged 330-horsepower V-6 from Mercedes-Benz.
