Design News for Mechanical and Design Engineers

At the same time, companies like Honda with a remodeled Pilot SUV, Subaru with the new Forester for 2009 and Kia with its new Borrego leveraged their reputations for practicality, reliability and fuel efficiency.

Here’s the highlights from day one of the most influential auto show in North America here in Motor City.

BMW unwrapped its new X6 Sports Activity Vehicle with a 407-hp, 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8. BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer says the X6 as a sports utility vehicle represents a new category that others will follow. BMW also showed its hydrogen 7 vehicle, 100 of which have been made and given to “celebrities” and “selected representatives of the political world.”

Also this year, BMW will enter the North American market for diesel with “Advanced Diesel with BluePerformance” in its X5 model, boasting 265 hp and 19/25 MPG.

If BMW rolled out a cheetah, Audi one-upped with a beast: the R8 two-seat concept car with a mid-engine 500 hp V-12 diesel. Super-secret until today, it’s uncertain if the vehicle is coming to the U.S. with a V-12 or a V-10 (known as the R10), according to a product specialist who did not want to give his name. The R8 presently has a V-8 gas engine.

Sex was on the mind of Mercedes executives with the introduction of its new GLK sports utility vehicle with a four-cylinder 204 hp BLUETEC diesel which boasts 35 MPG. Indeed, they called in Sex in the City star Kim Catrell to roll it out, which among features she said she loves is its “incredibly spacious trunk.” Mercedes also launched a new SLK roadster with a new 300 hp V-6. Most notable visually are its new grill and gull-wing doors.

Moving a bit down the power curve, but still in the luxury category, VW’s hot auto show entry was the Passat CC, which new VW President Hans-Jorg Hungerland said was tantamount to “driving a limousine but also want sporty.” This four-door coupe will come with either a four- or six-cylinder engine and will come here in late 2008. The first Passat CCs will debut in Europe in the second quarter.

In the soccer mom SUV department, Kia with its new Borrego, Honda with a second generation Pilot and Subaru with a new Forester addressed the higher volume of the more practical side of the market.

The new mid-size Borrego from Kia fills a gap in its product line and will hit dealer showrooms by early summer, said KIA North American president and CEO Len Hunt. It’ll feature Kia’s first V-8 ever (300 hp), a six-speed automatic shift ... and if you’re wondering what else, sip of this alphabet soup: ABS, HAS, ESC, TPM, EBD, DAC and TCD. No lie.

Kia also trotted former NBA stars George Gervin, Bill Walton, Willis Reed and Dominque Wilkins to stroke the Borrego. They all took shots at a hoop onstage and about two out of a dozen went in from 15 ft!

The 2009 Honda Pilot will be probably equal to or surpass the tremendous success of the first generation Pilot introduced in 2002. It was designed at Honda’s Los Angeles design center and will be made in its Ohio production plant, said Honda CEO Takeo Fukui.

But Vernon Heywood, an associate at Autobytel, seemed underwhelmed. “It’s seems like typical Honda. It’ll be great for the masses who’ll never take the car offroad.” Styling of the new Pilot is bolder, said Fukui. The new Pilot will include a Variable Cylinder Engine that operates in three-, four- and six-cylinder mode instead of just three and six in today’s models.

Finally out of the woods is Subaru’s 2009 Forester, which is 3 inches longer, 4.5 inches higher, 1.8 inches wider and with 4 inches less of turning radius. The 2009 Forester also boasts a larger moonroof. Fuji Heavy Industries CEO Ikuo Mori was mum on when Subaru will have its hybrid ready. “It’s coming,” he said, adding Subaru is about to launch its first diesel in Europe and is doing emissions testing for its as-yet-unscheduled introduction here.

Coming Monday: Update on Chevy Volt from GM, Lincoln, Toyota, Chrysler, Mazda and Rolls Royce.

		Honda CEO Takeo Fukui introducing the 2009 Honda Pilot
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