Windy City auto show blown away by SUV dominance

By Gautam Baksi

Daily Arts Wrtier

Under the towering skyline of Chicago's lakeshore, over 1,000 new, four-wheeled vehicles sit quietly in the McCormick Convention Center waiting for their cold engines to be brought to life. As they wait patiently, nearly two million people will have the chance to admire, touch or even sit in these vehicles before they decide which one they might like to bring home. For the last century, the Windy City has annually unveiled the latest concepts and redesigned vehicles in a car show whose only rivals are the elite extravaganzas in Tokyo, Detroit, Los Angeles and Frankfurt

If there's anything to be learned from this week's show, it's just how much sport-utility vehicles (SUV's) and hybrids (part car, truck or SUV), with their three-letter acronyms, cutting-edge technology, aggressive ground clearance and commanding view of the road, are dominating the automobile market. At impressive displays at the recent North American International Auto Show in Detroit - and now at the Chicago Auto Show - consumers are waiting in long lines to catch a glimpse of the new breed of these four-wheel drive machines.

Lost in the background are the muscle cars that once raced up and down Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit, let alone the sports cars of California with tuned engines and exhausts, or the "Gran Turismo" coupes from Europe - vehicles that, in spirit and heart, represented a true extension of the body in contact with the road. Where adults and children once roamed the auto shows eagerly examining the hard-edged new iterations of sporty machines like the Nissan 300ZX, Toyota Supra or Mazda RX-7, they now climb into the third cushy row of seats in the new Ford Excursion or admire the interactive Global Positioning System in the latest Lexus SUV. Meanwhile, the Supra, 300Z and RX-7 were all discontinued in recent years due to waning interest in the sports car market.

Over half of all concept cars unveiled to the public at the Chicago 2000 Auto Show were marketed as a SUV, truck or hybrid vehicle. Less than ten years ago, such a statistic would have been erroneously absurd. But in the last five years alone, over 50 new SUV vehicles have entered the auto market. Some have simply been the result of a repackaged (or "re-badged," in automotive parlance) predecessor such as the Lexus LX-450, while others have been designed completely from the ground up (i.e. Jeep Grand Cherokee). Either way, it seems wherever one turns, SUV's are ubiquitous.

A few of the large vehicles at this year's show did boast impressive attributes. Acura finally threw its name into the pool of SUV contestants with the Multi-Dimensional X-Trainer (MD-X). Set to go into production sometime this fall, Acura claims the MD-X combines virtually all the off-roading, rugged capability of a SUV with the smooth handling attributes of a sedan. It's the first SUV to meet the stringent ULEV (Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle) emission laws, a breakthrough for a vehicle in that market segment. The complete details of the vehicle were still shrouded in secrecy as Honda/Acura officials refused to let reporters see what engine was under the hood of the "X."

Toyota introduced the Sequoia, a new vehicle meant to fall into the price range between the enduring 4Runner and massive Land Cruiser. The Sequoia could give hot pursuit to Ford's strongly favored Expedition/Navigator line. "In response to what is emerging as one of the most diverse buyer segments in the industry... this will be the 'Year of the Truck and SUV,'" said Toyota Division group vice president and general manager, Don Esmond.

Other SUV's dominating the floors of the McCormick Center included the Chevy Traverse - a 4WD cross between an SUV and a hatchback with two rows of full-size seats. Fashion-conscious attendees seemed very displeased with the overcast plaid interior, hardly fitting for a vehicle designed to project a sporty and youthful image.

The no-hassle folks at Saturn unveiled a minivan/bus hybrid, the CV1, a bold departure for the conservative minds of the GM-based company. Volkswagen also showed off its HAC, a four-door, four-wheel drive pickup truck with a shortened bed, large V-8 engine and lots of rear seat room.

Mazda officials judiciously realized that less than five percent of all SUV owners ever use their vehicles off-road. With that in mind, they released the Nextourer concept car. It looks like a sport-utility, but really performs like a sedan. The most unique feature of this crossover is Mazda's patented AHC, or Active Height Control. When driving at highway speeds, the suspension automatically lowers the vehicle by two inches to reduce drag. Similarly, the Nextourer is raised up to four inches at slow speeds in situations where ground clearance may become necessary.

Honda arrived at the show with two SUV concepts, the Sprocket and the FCX. The Honda Sprocket uses exterior design cues from the Audi TT Coupe, but applies them towards an avant-garde SUV. Sitting atop large tires, it boasts vertical opening, DeLorean-style doors. Not too contrastingly, Honda also unveiled the FCX, the first sport-ute of its kind to be powered solely by electric propulsion generated from a reaction between stored hydrogen and oxygen. The FCX is a right-hand-drive vehicle, implying the concept may have been geared more for the European market. Both the Sprocket and FCX did a good job of highlighting Honda's commitment towards low-emission, "green friendly" vehicles.

These environmentally friendly trends are not surprising to those keeping a watchful eye on the pulse of the auto industry. As manufacturers have started to release behemoth SUV's and trucks, the federal government has toyed with the idea of raising or revising CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards. These standards are used to impose guidelines limiting the sale of low fuel economy vehicles. In a nutshell, CAFE laws state that the average fuel economy of a given manufacturer must be at a specific value, 27.5 mpg for cars and 20.7 for light trucks. In other words, for every fuel-hungry Chevrolet Suburban that General Motors sells, it must also sell enough thrifty Cavaliers to balance the loss of its CAFE value. While GM might love to drop low-profit, high fuel economy cars like the Cavalier, it cannot because of the heavy fines it would then face from the government.

Though these environmental trends are promising for altruistic reasons, truck and SUV platforms still retain their sluggish handling characteristics and lack of sensation between the driver and the road. What they lack in feel for the pavement they make up for in off-road capability. Ironically, very few of these all terrain vehicles are used for this potential. This may suggest that esteem is now associated a great deal more with size and sticker price rather than with performance, handling and overall drivability. In an effort to constantly be "bigger, badder and tougher," the Chicago Auto Show exemplifies how the American consumer may slowly be losing interest in the reason it once fell in love with the automobile: a simple passion for driving.

Courtesy of Toyota Motors

SUV's ads tend to present them as rugged outdoors purchases, like this 2001 Toyota Sequoia, but most get driven chiefly in cities.