The 2018 North American International Auto Show, otherwise known as The Detroit Auto Show, will open to the public this weekend. And when car enthusiasts and might-be-buyers look around for the best new vehicles they can look forward to, they will mostly see trucks and SUVs with all-wheel-drive, all the better to navigate the snowy streets of the Motor City.
It's not as if all the new vehicles and show cars are trucks and SUVs. Hyundai showed the media an all-new Veloster that goes on sale later this year. Kia showed a new Forte sedan. Honda is showing a new Insight hybrid sedan it debuted in November at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
But the attention grabbers like the Chevy Silverado, Ram, Ford Ranger, and even the BMW X2 and Nissan XMotion concept, are all trucks and crossovers.
The shift by the public away from two-door and four-door passenger cars is defining where and how automakers are spending their research and development money with more investment going to trucks and SUVs.
Mid-sized pickups were ditched by GM, Ford and Chrysler in the last ten years, but GM was the first to bring one back, and now Ford has too in the Ranger.
The new Ranger on display in Detroit looks rough and tumble and very much part of the Ford truck family. It's based on the truck of the same name Ford sells in Australia, New Zealand, Africa and other markets. It has steel front and rear bumpers mounted to a steel frame, a 2.3-liter engine, a front “bash plate,” and a 10-speed automatic transmission.
Fiat Chrysler introduced a new version of the Ram pickup, which is the most profitable and important single vehicle in FCA’s U.S. lineup. The automaker sold more than a half-million Ram pickups last year to buyers attracted to the Ram’s styling and car-like on-road ride.
The new Ram integrates a 48-volt battery and 300-watt lithium-ion battery for a system that boosts fuel economy and torque.
Mercedes is displaying a new version of its G-Class, which was originally commissioned by the Shah of Iran, who wanted a street-worthy luxury version of a German military vehicle he admired. It now sells to those customers for whom a Range Rover or Toyota Land Cruiser is not the right image.
The new G Class will ford 27 inches of water, crawl mountainsides and has a ground clearance that is a whopping 9.5 inches greater than the old model. Mercedes chief Dieter Zetsche once ran the Chrysler-Jeep business and remains a huge Jeep fan. Indeed, he referred to the G-Class and the Jeep Wrangler this week as the “two great icons of sport utilities in the world.”
Click here to see a gallery of these trucks and the other most important vehicles at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show.
