Auto Show: Who's Revealing What In Detroit

The North American International Auto Show in Detroit tends--like its host city--to be more meat and potatoes than nouvelle cuisine.

In January, automakers will serve up new versions of their production vehicles, and concepts tend to focus less on flights of fancy than on the direction designs are actually going to take.

While last month's show in L.A. seemed to be as much about alternate drive train technologies as about sheet metal, Detroit will focus again on traditional vehicles, as gasoline prices have dropped by about $1 over the last few months. Fuel efficiency will certainly remain a key message, but expect a little less hand-wringing about petroleum-based fuel as automakers pull the wraps off new cars and trucks.

Of more than 45 introductions show managers expect next month, there will be many crossovers, with several automakers entering the fray in market segments in which they hadn't fielded car-based SUVs before.

None of which means the companies don't use the show for design experiments: the Kia Kue is a design concept for a coupe that indicates the design direction the company will go in. Honda will unveil an Accord coupe concept serving the same purpose, and Nissan will reveal what it is calling an advanced design study called the Nissan Bevel.

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Chinese automaker Changfeng Group Co. will also show four vehicles under the Liebao (cheetah) brand at the show, although the company said it won't start selling in the U.S. until later in the decade.

Chrysler Group, among other things, will show a new car, the Nassau, a four-door passenger luxury coupe; new Dodge vehicles about which the company is saying little, and the Jeep Trailhawk, which is based on the Wrangler.

Cadillac will show the first redesign of its top-selling CTS, the new version of which is scheduled to go on sale in late summer. Among the show's "at long last" reveals, Toyota's Lexus brand will finally unveil a performance sub-brand "F"--specifically an F-series version of the IS sedan, bowing late in the year as a 2008 model--meant to compete with Mercedes' AMG and BMW's M cars.

Porsche has announced the next-generation Cayenne. BMW's Mini brand will unveil its first major revamp since Mini's launch when it pulls the wraps off the 2007 Mini Cooper and Cooper S, which will go on sale next year.

Among more plebeian brands, GM's Saturn division has said it will begin selling a new car, Astra--based on an Opel car of the same name, and meant to replace the poorly selling Ion compact car. The vehicle, intended to lure import buyers to Saturn, reflects a collaboration between the two GM divisions, of which the Sky roadster is also a product.

However, GM won't show the Astra until the Chicago auto show the following month. Astra, a 2008 model car, will become the latest in a raft of new Saturn vehicles, after the Sky roadster, Aura sedan, Outlook and Vue SUVs. It's all part of a product salvo the company says gives Saturn a lineup of vehicles that have been on the market for only 20 months.

Hyundai, which plans to move upmarket, will show a mid-sized crossover, the Veracruz--the ninth vehicle to join Hyundai's 2007 model year lineup. The company says the new crossover will be bigger than Honda's Pilot, with third-row seats.

Mitsubishi, which has been struggling for three years, plans to show off three new vehicles, including a new Lancer compact car.

If Ford is notably missing from this discussion, it is because the company last year decided to alter a long-standing strategy of offering pre-show news of vehicle reveals. To build anticipation, Ford now keeps pretty mum about its plans for the show.

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