Tuesday, January 7, 2003
Ford and GM concept cars show how automakers plan to boost sales of the big family car.
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
DETROIT -- Large American sedans, the fabulously finned family haulers of the '50s and '60s, may be lumbering back to life -- only with a lot less chrome.
Both Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Inc. introduced concept cars at the North American International Auto Show here this week that were modern interpretations of the big, smooth-riding Ozzie-and-Harriet vehicles that American automakers were once famous for.
While both sell thousands of full-size trucks, their car lines have languished over the last decade, and they are seeking to revitalize them.
Ford, Chevy
In introducing the Ford 427, vice president of design J Mays noted that the company used to sell more than a million Galaxie sedans a year in the 1960s, which surpasses any line of vehicle sold today.
"It is a market we gave up, and this could be tomorrow's family sedan," he said.
Like some of Ford's big sedans from the past, the concept is powered by a 427-cubic-inch engine (7 liters in modern nomenclature) -- this one a 590-horsepower V10. Though the car is thoroughly modern, its headlights and big rectangular taillights are vaguely reminiscent of Galaxies of the past.
The Chevy SS, meanwhile, had a more 21st-century look. But like some of the Impala Super Sports of the '60s, the stylish four-door sedan has a muscular V8 up front -- a 6-liter motor producing 430 horsepower.
A glimpse of future
Although neither automaker made any promises, both suggested that the cars are ideas that they are considering.
"A lot of these concept cars that we have shown in the past are precursors to production vehicles," said Wayne Cherry, GM vice president of design.
For years, concept cars were mostly whimsical design exercises -- "fantasies in chrome," as Ford's former vice president of corporate design, Jack Telnack, once described them.
But for at least the last decade, the line between concept and production vehicles has blurred. Concept cars and trucks today often hint -- if not shout -- at what an automaker is considering building.
Many concepts today become production cars and trucks tomorrow, among them the Dodge Viper, Volkswagen Beetle, Audi TT, Hummer H2, Chrysler Crossfire, Chrysler Pacifica, Chevrolet Avalanche and Chevy SSR pickup.
From concept to reality
"The industry had kind of lost its way with concepts," said Paul Eisenstein, publisher of The CarConnection, an automotive Web site. "Concepts came back in the late '80s because Chrysler was again facing bankruptcy and really needed a way to get something out in public that indicated where they were headed."
In those years, one of Chrysler's more radical-looking "cab-forward" concepts evolved into the automaker's successful line of big sedans -- the Chrysler Concorde, Chrysler 300M and Dodge Intrepid.
Ford showed a concept Sunday of what is likely to be the 2005 Mustang. According to Ford insiders, the concept is 90 percent of the production car. It features a crisp retro body that resembles a late '60s Mustang but rides on a modern Thunderbird-Lincoln-Jaguar platform and is powered by Ford's current supercharged Cobra engine.
Dodge Durango
One of DaimlerChrysler's concepts on Sunday, the Dodge Durango Concept, looks instantly familiar, and seems similar to the automaker's current Durango SUV.
However, it is 7 inches longer than the current Durango, has a dramatically sloped windshield like the new Ram pickup and has Chrysler's new 345-horsepower Hemi V8 under the hood.
Underneath, the truck has a coil-spring rear suspension that offers better handling and ride than the old-fashioned leaf-springs that the current Durango has.
Despite its showy looks, the Durango concept is strongly suggestive of the new Durango SUV that Dodge should begin selling this fall.
"The idea was to provide a vehicle that would have the space of Tahoes or Expeditions, but not the size," said Dominick Infante, a spokesman for DaimlerChrysler, referring to the Chevrolet and Ford competitors. He described the concept truck as "85 percent of the production vehicle."