SpeedyV6

Bag It or Build It?

Readers Get a Chance to Vote
On the Auto Maker's Concepts
The world's car makers spent most of the past week in frigid Detroit trying to float trial balloons in the form of concept show cars. Which ones will stay aloft?

In honor of the New Year and the new auto-show season, I'd like to invite you to play, "Bag It or Build It."

BAG IT OR BUILD IT

Vote on which1 of the concept vehicles from the Detroit auto show should become a reality. And join a discussion2 about whether auto makers are in touch with what consumers want.

I'll run down the pros and cons of some of the concept cars that several auto makers are showing off at the big North American International Auto Show in Detroit – which is for cars and trucks what Comdex is to electronics. These show cars – some literally fiberglass models, and others working prototypes – aren't in production, and may never be. Their purpose is to provoke a response from consumers and the press that car makers can feed into their future product decisions.

In some cases, notably the Volkswagen New Beetle, the enthusiasm for a concept car is so strong that company executives decide to put the model into production as fast as possible. Other show cars will never be more than that – either because cost-effective technology to make them real doesn't exist or because their likely sales wouldn't justify an investment. Their purpose is to generate buzz in the motoring press, and that's it. Some show cars are just bombs and everyone involved tries to forget about them.


So here we go with a selection from this season's crop. When you're ready, cast your vote to Bag It or Build It.

Chevy Nomad


Back in 1954, Chevrolet designers came up with a show car called the Nomad that combined the face and frame of a Corvette with a wagon back. The result was the ultimate surfer mobile. Chevy eventually created real Nomad wagons that you can find for sale on the Internet today.

The new Nomad concept car GM created for the Detroit show is much smaller than those older cars. It's built on a chassis that's a scaled down version of the rear drive building blocks for the new Corvette, which GM executives have code-named Kappa. GM's brass are very excited about the Kappa "architecture" because it offers a relatively inexpensive way for GM to build small, light and inexpensive rear drive cars that can be used to create buzz for a brand that's gone bland. The Pontiac Solstice roadster, which GM showed as a show car two years ago, is now headed into production on the Kappa underpinnings.

The Nomad is what a Solstice would look like if it had a cargo carrying fanny pack -- and a Chevy bowtie badge.

Pros: A small, funky wagon might be just the ticket for attracting young buyers to Chevy – or more likely, mid-life crisis types looking for something different to flog during the morning commute route.
Cons: A real Nomad would probably not have the show car's 250 horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder engine. And the car's not exactly big, making it impractical for customers who have serious loads or luggage.

Volkswagen Concept T


Back in the days of the Old Volkswagen Beetle, a popular way to transform the dowdy little basic car was to overhaul it into a dune buggy, with fat tires and an open air body.

Now, Volkswagen, which needs a shot in the arm while it awaits the arrival of updated versions of its best-selling U.S. models, wants to generate some curiosity with a show car that's a cross between a Dune Buggy and an all-wheel-drive crossover sport-utility vehicle. The Concept T is the factory-sanctioned Dune Buggy that VW never made.

Pros: An off-road coupe with in-your-face styling might be just what Volkswagen needs to connect with Generation Y the way it connected with Generation X. All off-road vehicles don't have to be station wagons in disguise. Hats off to VW's California design studio.
Cons: But seriously, does the world want a strange looking all-wheel drive sports car that can also vault over dunes?

Toyota FTX Truck


Sure, Toyota got a lot of attention last week with gasoline-electric hybrid versions of the Toyota Highlander and Lexus RX330 sport utility wagons, due to reach these shores later this year. But the Big Noise, and I mean Big, is a show vehicle aimed at giving the public a clue to the intentions Toyota has for a Big Pickup truck it plans to start building in 2006 at a new factory in Texas.

The FTX is a brutish vehicle, designed, Toyota officials say, to conjure up images of a fist. It stands in complete contrast to the Green image Toyota projects with the Highland and Prius hybrid vehicles. The FTX is intended for an entirely different audience than those socially conscious rides. Toyota is well aware that its current "large" pickup, the Tundra, is dismissed by a lot of serious pickup buyers as too small and too wimpy. The FTX serves notice that Toyota wants to run with the Big Dogs.

Pros: A Toyota truck big enough for Texas: What could be wrong with that?
Cons: This thing looks like a Dodge Ram with testosterone poisoning. Who wants to drive around in a fist?

Honda SUT


Speaking of pickup trucks, guess who wants into this market after years of declaring that pickup trucks just weren't its bag? Honda. The auto maker last week took the wraps off the much-anticipated show version of its Sport Utility Truck, or SUT. Yes, you are familiar with this idea from the Chevrolet Avalanche, which basically is a Chevy Suburban SUV with the back roof sawed off to create a pickup bed. The big difference with the Honda SUT is that the underlying vehicle is a crossover SUV, built on a chassis and mechanical components similar to a Honda Pilot. That suggests the ride will be softer, but the ultimate utility in terms of towing capacity will be less than the brawny Avalanche.

Pros: The Honda SUT could be the perfect Suburban Cowboy's pickup – with a smoother ride and lots of room for the kids and their dirt bikes in back.
Cons: If you want a pickup truck, get a real one that can tow a boat. This is a 21st Century Ranchero with better quality and more safety features.

Ford Shelby Cobra and Chrysler ME 412


Finally, let's look at a pair of supercar concept vehicles from two of Detroit's more challenged players, both of which are counting on 2004 to be a big comeback year.

The Ford Shelby Cobra concept car is a 605 horsepower, V-10 powered super sports car that shares significant components with the production version of the Ford GT. The Shelby also marks the return to the Ford family of Carroll Shelby, the legendary hot-rod maker responsible for the original Shelby Cobra and other mouth-watering muscle cars.

If Ford actually built a car like the Shelby Cobra concept it would probably come along some time after the Ford GT gets into production and established. But Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bill Ford sure seemed to like the car when he showed it off last week, his previous image as an environmentalist and electric vehicle enthusiast notwithstanding.

Pros: Why not build a V-10 muscle car after the Ford GT has run its course? Ford gets to spread the cost of the GT project over another model. Carroll Shelby fans get another toy in the garage.
Cons: The concept Cobra's styling is most successful at reminding you of how much lighter and nimbler the original looked. And the idea of a V-10 American muscle roadster named after a snake isn't exactly original.


Vying for oohs and aahs at the Detroit show is Chrysler's ME 412, a 12-cylinder ultra car that DaimlerChrysler executives say is a functioning vehicle capable of surging from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 2.9 seconds. At which point, the occupant travels backward in time to meet Marty McFly and Chuck Berry.

If you didn't know that Chrysler was run by Germans with an itch to demonstrate to their rivals back home that they still know how to make a real super sports car, the mid-engined ME 412 would put you straight. It's what a Porsche Carrera GT would look like if Chrysler built one.

Pros: It sure would look sexy parked next to the minivan.
Cons: Who in the world needs a street car that can go 0 to 60 in under three seconds? Chrysler should concentrate on coming up with more affordable coupes and sedans that real people would want to buy.

* * *
So, build them or bag them? You be the judge. Vote here,4 or send me an e-mail. I'll report the results in a couple of weeks.

• Send comments about Eyes on the Road to joseph.white@wsj.com5.

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Updated January 12, 2004 8:22 a.m.

95gt

All are okay but only one i can see a reason to build is the Toyota Pickup. Titan is a hot item and this looks to be the same sort of idea (big power and styling). Rest i just don't see a market for.

AcuraFan

You don't see any of the other ones coming to production? Well, the SUT is getting really close to production. The way it sounds, this design is close to what we'll be getting in a year or so.

And the Cobra is due for a change...this could be it (but I think the original design is better).

Python2121

cobra

Chaptorial

I'd kill em all except the cobra.

gavriil

I'd build them all.

matteichenfels

According to Chrysler at the north american auto show....this is no longer a concept...its the prototype for the actual vehicle. The engine was jointly developed by chrysler and mercedes benz amg division...I LOVE IT!

Zoot

I'd BAG them all

chungkopi

build them!!

Jimmbbo

Chevy Nomad GM's answer to the PT Cruiser...

VW T Concept UGLY! Looks like a Prowler after 50 mph crash test.

Toyota FTX - WHY??

Honda SUT UGLY ^2!!

Ford Shelby Cobra

Chrysler ME 412

SpeedyV6

Readers Go for Super Cars in Concepts From Ford, Chrysler
Draw Most 'Build It' VotesPoll

The votes are in from the Eyes on the Road "Bag it or Build it" poll1, and it looks like sports cars are in for 2004.

Based on the voting as of last Thursday, readers want to see more really fast cars, but aren't too enthused about the new breed of Japanese-brand pickups.

This was an unscientific poll, of course. Among the things I don't know are how many readers shared the point of view, expressed in several e-mails, that car makers should quit wasting talent on flashy, souped up show cars and concentrate on building practical vehicles people would want to buy. "Exciting, affordable, reliable, fuel-efficient designs would generate the most buzz," wrote Bob Johnson of St. Louis, Mo.

That's a good point. But the industry's heart appears to be set on the fast, the bold and the big. Among the six concept cars I featured last week, the Ford Shelby Cobra concept car was the big winner. Of 3,870 readers who cast a vote on the car, 80%, or 3,109, said Build It.

Ford spokesman Dan Bedore says our tally tracks Ford's own research. The auto maker has been monitoring how many photographs of the Cobra and other concept models have been downloaded from Web sites, and the Cobra is getting double the traffic of other models, he says.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RESULTS AT A GLANCE



Concept Bag It Build It
Chevy Nomad 47% 53%
VW Concept T 72 28
Toyota FTX 52 48
Honda SUT 74 26
Ford Shelby Cobra 20 80
Chrysler ME 412 41 59

Percentage of votes as of Thursday, Jan. 15
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Will Ford really build a new Shelby Cobra? Officially the answer is that there's no firm plan to do so. But Ford has arranged things so that the car could be produced in limited numbers. The Cobra would share a lot of technology already being used in the Ford GT super car. When that limited production model is done, the Cobra could come along, if Ford figures out a way to cover its costs.

The Chrysler ME 412 super sports car prototype did well, too, with 59% of the 3,801 people who logged an opinion casting a vote for Chrysler to build the car for real. It seems the idea of zooming from 0 to 60 in under 3 seconds in a car that looks like a 21st Century Batmobile has a lot of appeal.

Jason Vines, Chrysler's vice president for corporate communications, says the ME 412 is mainly designed to show what Chrysler can do -- despite its recent, well publicized problems. He noted that the company has taken some criticism in the German press for attempting an exotic super car when it should be focusing on its mainstream mass-market vehicles.

Mr. Vines replies the ME 412 did what it was designed to do: "We got you to talk about us. Your interest is piqued," he says. Mr. Vines said Chrysler plans to allow automotive writers to drive the ME 412 -- which will likely produce more publicity that will come in handy as the DaimlerChrysler AG unit tries to attract attention to its mainstream models, such as the new Chrysler 300C sedan and the redesigned Chrysler minivans.

Among the big losers? The Honda Sport Utility Truck got the thumbs down from 74% of the 3,698 people who registered a vote.

Honda won't be deterred. "No question, we see the market for this vehicle," says Honda spokesman Andy Boyd. The real SUT, when it hits the market, will be designed to stop Honda customers from buying rivals' pickups simply because Honda doesn't offer anything with a load bed in the back. Honda isn't trying to compete with work trucks like a Chevy Silverado, he says. "The growth in the market is on the lifestyle side, not the work truck side," he says.

Volkswagen's Concept T off-road coupe also got a rough ride from readers. Volkswagen officials said the Concept T was designed mainly to provoke a discussion about the emotions a sporty crossover SUV from VW might try to capture, not to make a statement that the company intends to build a vehicle as unusual looking as the show car.

The Concept T is designed to capture the "wind in the hair feeling of a dune buggy," says Volkswagen USA spokesman Tony Fouladpour. "How far could you extend that piece of property?"

Readers evidently thought the Concept T extended too far. Of the 3,829 readers who cast a vote on the VW concept, 72% said Bag It.

The other vehicles split voters more evenly. The Chevy Nomad coupe-wagon, a mechanical cousin of GM's forthcoming Pontiac Solstice roadster, got a thumbs up by a margin of 53% to 47%. Chevrolet spokesman Joe Jaccuzzi says Chevy and GM Design executives believe the Nomad is a winner. GM used the Nomad in part to showcase a new, small rear drive chassis technology code-named Kappa, that GM plans to use for a series of relatively low-volume image cars.

The Toyota FTX concept pickup also generated a close race among Eyes on the Road readers, but the tally came down against the big truck's brash design by a margin of 52% for Bag It, and 48% for Build It.

Kevin Hunter, vice president for Toyota's California design studio, CALTY Design Research, says the company hasn't conducted any structured research on the FTX's styling. "Our feedback from peers and internally has been positive," he says. Mr. Hunter says show cars are meant to exhibit a "heightened sense of reality" and deliver a message. In this case, the main message was that Toyota's next large pickup "is going to be a real full-size truck," he says. "We're going for a Big Truck."

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Updated January 19, 2004 12:53 a.m.

1SICKLEX

:bubbarubb

gavriil

Very interesting poll above.