Motown sees rebirth of legends

Two American legends were reborn at the COBO hall, the venue for the 16th North American International Auto Show.

A new Corvette is certainly a big occasion, and General Motors cannot be blamed for going to town with it.

The sixth-generation Corvette, which was launched at the Detroit Opera Hall, looks more aggressive than ever before, and is powered by a 400 bhp "small block" V8 engine.

Ford is set to counter the Corvette with its nemesis, the Mustang. The brand new Mustang is due later this year as a 2005 model, and will cost much less than GM's super car. It will either have a 200 bhp V6 or a 300 bhp V8 under its low-slung snout.

The all-new, $20,000 Pontiac Solstice due next year received the maximum applause as GM Chairman Bob Lutz, the quintessential 'car' guy, drove in the convertible, based on GM's brand new 'Kappa' architecture.

Lutz went on to unveil three concepts based on the platform -- the decidedly "euro chic" Saturn Curve and the "hardcore retro" Chevrolet Nomad being the other two.

Another Ford that is getting attention is the Bronco concept, which traces the roots of the current genre of sports utility vehicles, the Five Hundred sedan and the Freestyle crossover vehicle.

A liberal dose of Daimler has done well to Chrysler and two talented sports car concepts, the 800 bhp Four-Twelve and the Dodge Slingshot, made sure that journalists thronged its pavilion.

The Four-Twelve is the first mid-engine Chrysler sports car and is touted to do a 100 kph run in 2.9 seconds.

As for the Japanese giants, who sell mother-ship loads of cars in the US, Toyota won the prestigious North American Car of the Year for its odd-ball, second-generation hybrid vehicle Prius.

Suzuki Reno, a crossover vehicle (part car -part SUV), was shown for the first time, and Honda hinted that it would love to build pick-up trucks--no surprise since the US market alone accounts for about 7 million pick-up trucks every year and Toyota and Nissan have made significant inroads into the segment.

Motown or not, what is a motor show without a showstopper Ferrari. The Italian giant, for the first time in history, held a worldwide debut in the US. The four-passenger 612 Scaglietti is longer, wider and more powerful than the 456 M that it replaces.

Post 9/11, America is going through a phase where buying a third car for the family is hip, thanks to zero-interest credit.

And from the looks of it, American carmakers are busy readying these real fun-cars for real people. Who said all fallouts were bad?