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North American Flagged Off
Kicking off events was the announcement that Ford had swept the board at the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards. The Ford Transit Connect added to its long list of awards, beating the Chevrolet Equinox and Subaru Outback, while the Ford Fusion Hybrid won against the Buick LaCrosse and Volkswagen Golf/GTI. It is only the third time that an automaker has won both awards, and is something of a coup for Ford.
"We've been focusing very relentlessly on our strategy around making sure our vehicles are world-class in the areas of fuel economy, safety, quality and smart technology," Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas, said after the morning ceremony."We're just so glad we're being recognized for that, both by the journalists but also, more importantly, by the customers."
Ford then started the unveiling with the dramatic new global 2012 Ford Focus Sedan and Hatchback. The new vehicles will go on sale towards the end of the year, and represent Ford's latest effort at creating a 'world car' — one that has the same components, built with the same processes, and is marketed in the same way in markets throughout the world.
The new Focus will be offered with a 2.0-litre direct-injection four-cylinder engine mated to a six-speed dual-clutch transmission, with an optional 2.0-litre turbocharged EcoBoost engine slated to arrive later. The C-platform that the Focus is based off of will eventually underpin 10 new vehicles for Ford, according to the company. The new vehicle will be priced higher than the outgoing model however, reflecting its additional content, quality, and the surprising level of fit and finish present in its interior. An electric model and a plug-in hybrid will also be introduced next year, and built at the company's Wayne (Michigan) plant, according to Ford.
Cars were the focus for General Motors (GM) as well, introducing the Buick Regal GS concept, the Chevrolet Aveo RS concept, and the GMC Granite CUV concept at the show. The company released details of the Buick concept earlier in the month, but kept the Aveo and Granite information under wraps until yesterday. Aveo is a lightly disguised look at the next-generation GM B-segment offering that will be built and sold globally, and is both larger and far more stylish than the current South Korean-made vehicle sold by Chevrolet.
Hybrid cars also featured prominently, with Toyota announcing the FT-CH hybrid sedan, a compact vehicle roughly the size of the Honda Insight that looks as if it is meant to compete with that model. Smaller than a Prius by nearly six inches in the wheelbase, the vehicle is still a concept but may preview a model that Toyota uses to flesh out its new Prius line of vehicles. The company announced officially that it would indeed be bringing out a line of vehicles under the Prius moniker, but stopped short of calling it a separate brand. A more production-ready hybrid coupe concept was unveiled by VW, the appropriately (if unimaginatively) named New Compact Coupe.
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