My Completely Arbitrary Highlights of the Frankfurt Auto Show

So the Frankfurt Auto Show (aka Frankfurt Motor Show, aka Internationale Automobil Ausstellung) is unfolding this week in, you guessed it, Baltimore Frankfurt. As auto shows go, it’s a pretty big one, second only to Detroit, and so a lot of important vehicles tend to get trotted out and shown off.

I’m not about to cover everything, but I wanted to highlight a few of the new rides that grabbed my attention. If you want full coverage of every ugly-ass supercar mod job and retarded city car concept, be my guest. But this is my blog, and hence, my list.

SUV Nostalgia?

Jalopnik, one of my favorite sites for all things automotive, recently posed an interesting question.

Will the SUV be worshiped as a nostalgia totem in 20 years?

The logic is pretty simple. Once upon a time, there were muscle cars. The Mustang, the Camaro, the Firebird. Then the 70’s happened, and the energy crises brought that party to a crashing halt. Now, thirty years later, we’re in the midst of a revival. Between the 2005-on Ford Mustang, the Chevy Camaro, and to a lesser extent the Dodge Challenger, the muscle car is popular again.

Could the same thing be in store for the SUV, which has an eerily similar trajectory (cheap to build, highly popular, almost defining an age, then crippled by high gas prices)?

In my opinion, yes and no.

FAIL.

Back in July I wrote a post about the Honda Crosstour and the troubling direction the design seemed to be taking.

This morning, Honda released photos of the Accord Crosstour and, well, yeah.

A few words come to mind. Hideous. Retarded. Unnecessary.

I would much rather have received this (the Euro-market Accord Estate):

One of the things I hate about living in the U.S. – the general revulsion toward hatches and wagons. And I don’t even think it’s a real revulsion. As the Mini Cooper, Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, Scion xB and xD, Subaru WRX, Mazda3, Kia Soul, VW Jetta Sportwagen and more and more cars prove every year, people crave options beyond a sedan or an SUV. But manufacturers still repeat that “Americans don’t like wagons” mantra. And then shove crap like this at us.

It’s Time. Kill Chrysler.

Earlier today, I came across a really interesting statistic by way of Twitter:

AOLAutos: Study shows Americans 18-64 years would rather buy a car badged Fiat than Chrysler. Amazing.

My initial reaction was to laugh. Amazing? Obvious, more like.

I mean, would you rather drive this train wreck of a car:

Chrysler Sebring

…or this?

Fiat Bravo

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized yeah, it actually is kind of amazing, when you consider the average American would probably be hard pressed to name a single car Fiat sells. In a lot of ways, it’s the perfect commentary on just how bad Chrysler’s situation has become. Americans would rather buy a car from a brand they are largely unfamiliar with, that has a reputation for pretty much the opposite of reliablity, than from a long-established domestic marque.

And you know what? They’re right.

“Too Good to Waste”

UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST.

GM’s bankruptcy has been dominating headlines of late. Their past (and present) missteps have been examined in excruciating detail, and schadenfruede is in the air.

But one thing that’s often gone unremarked is how good some of their cars have been getting lately. The Chevy Malibu and Cadillac CTS are both very competitive in their respective categories. The new Camaro is a critical darling and a sales success. And the next-generation Chevy Equinox and Cadillac SRX look like they have the stuff to go up against segment leaders, if only buyers can be persuaded to take a look at them.

But one of the best vehicles GM has brought out in the past few years is undoubtedly the Pontiac G8. It’s a performance bargain that, according to several reviews, out M5s the mighty BMW M5 at a fraction of the price. And it’s a handsome car, too, eschewing the affinity Pontiacs past displayed for garish body cladding and a proliferation of hood vents.

Pontiac G8 GXP

It was also slated for extinction along with the rest of the Pontiac brand.

A few weeks ago, GM CEO Fritz Henderson squashed speculation that the G8 would be brought under the Chevrolet umbrella, because, as he said, “I’m not a fan of rebadging”.

First of all…what? GM is the king of rebadging. They’ve gotten a lot better about it in recent years, and actually gone to lengths to differentiate products across their brands, but they still rebadge like crazy. Just look at the Chevy Traverse/GMC Acadia/Saturn Outlook/Buick Enclave. It’s basically the same vehicle dressed in different clothes.

Second…is it rebadging if the brand in question is being killed off?

Fortunately for anybody who actually likes to drive, GM realized the absurdity of killing off the G8 and today announced that it will in fact stick around as the all-new Chevy Caprice. In the words of Bob Lutz, “it’s kinda too great to waste”.

UPDATE: It would appear I spoke to soon. GM is killing the G8/Caprice/whatever after all. Too bad.

The Routan Survives

I sure didn’t see this coming.

The Volkswagen Routan is about as cynical a vehicle as they come. Beneath the massaged sheetmetal, it’s basically a rebadged Chrysler Town & Country. Same platform, same crappy engine.

Psst...it's just a Town & Country

I wrote about the Routan a year ago, and my opinion still stands. Volkswagen had a chance to really shake things up with their Microbus concept, and instead they took the lazy way out and foisted this warmed over, uninspired box on the buying public.

And the buying public smelled a rat. Despite a Brooke Shields-heavy ad campaign, the Routan never lit up the sales charts, never posed a serious threat to the Honda Odyssey or even the Kia Sedona.

So when Chrysler entered bankruptcy, I figured the Routan was a goner.

Imagine my surprise, then, at the announcement that the cow in sheep’s clothing would live on.

Volkswagen must be pulling in some hefty margins. That’s the only explanation that springs to mind.

The Latest Cat…

I read a stat a few years ago that BMW was not only the most searched auto brand, but also the most actively avoided.

It makes sense.

On the one hand, BMWs largely live up to the brand promise of the “ultimate driving machine”. But they also have a stigma about them (if you’ve ever heard the joke about the difference between a BMW and a porcupine, you know what I mean). The same’s true for Lexus, Cadillac, Lincoln. Luxury brands tend to be polarizing. They attract partisans.

And then there’s Jaguar.

The Koreans Are Getting Interesting…

Four or five years ago, GSD&M pitched the Kia account, and I got to do a deep dive into the Korean automaker and its sister brand, Hyundai. At the time they were just starting to show potential. The Kia Sorento was a solid little SUV, and the Hyundai Sonata was starting to grab some attention. But for the most part their lineup was…lacking. Questionable styling, tacky faux wood trimmed interiors. Despite an honest attempt, their cars for the most part just didn’t measure up.

But that’s been changing. Nowadays, the Koreans that could are on a roll. Their vehicles are interesting. Their designs are dynamic, their handling and materials are either at parity or superior to a lot of their competitors. In short, their cars are creeping closer to my consideration set.

The Sports Car Boom

What’s the deal with affordable sports cars?

When I was a kid, they were everywhere. The domestics were unleashing their third generation Mustangs, Camaros, and Firebirds. Nissan had the 300ZX, Toyota the Supra, and Mazda their rotary-engined RX-7.

Then, around 1995, they started to vanish. The Japanese cars went too upmarket, got too expensive, and ultimately got discontinued. The domestics soldiered on, but in a sad state, their development neglected by the rise of the SUV. A few survived. The Mustang. The Miata. But for the most part the affordable sports car category was abandoned.

Now, it’s back with a vengeance.

Thanks, Honda…

For the most part, I like Honda. My wife’s owned three, including our current Nolan Transport Device, a 2008 CR-V. I totally dig the Fit, to the point of considering it one of the two or three cars I’d opt for if I had to give up the Mini. And while I wish they’d give us the Euro-spec Civic hatchback, I really don’t dislike a single vehicle in their U.S. lineup (which is more than can be said for most of the car brands).

So when I found out Honda was going to introduce a crossover-ish vehicle to compete with the Toyota Venza, I was kind of intrigued.