Commentary: New York Auto Show Download: Recovery Scorecard

Commentary: New York Auto Show Download: Recovery Scorecard

By Michelle Krebs April 6, 2010

Last week's New York auto show wrapped up for the media just as the industry's rough-and- tumble first quarter also came to a close. It was impossible not to connect the hardware on the New York show floor with the direction some of those vehicles' makers are headed as the industry writhes through what may or may not be labeled a recovery.

Judging from what's on display in New York, if there's a recovery underway, it's definitely going to treat some automakers better than others.

Using new products as the springboard, a scorecard of who's winning and losing so far this year:

Saab: C-

We won't argue with those who've said the all-new, General Motors Co.-based 9-5 looks better in the metal than in photos. The car's rear-slanting, 900-esque roofline and C-pillar are inspired enough to make you overlook the obvious shared Buick and Opel lineage.

And Saab talks up the fact it's getting a raft of new cars almost free of charge, thanks to GM bearing all of the development costs.

But what is Saab going to do to press that advantage? Nothing apparent.

Like Volvo, the other Swedish maker that also just changed owners, we're left to wonder what compelling reason there is for someone to buy the new 9-5 (or for that matter the "new" 9-3X, which is a good concept brushed onto a car that's just looking way too tired).

Saab needs to use its cost advantage to sell the new 9-5 for Buick money - at least for a time. The company's already announced it will sell the 9-3 for 4 to 12 percent less. Those prices must be cut more, and warranties need beefed up.

Simply reenergizing and re-enticing the same old fan base is completely insufficient - it may be enough to allow the company to limp along for a time, but the brand needs outsized and perhaps outlandish new methods to make any genuine impact in this troubled market, and we're not sure Saab's leadership is ready to wage the kind of total war it needs to survive.

Acura: C

Honda's upscale brand is so out to lunch it's now way past dinner time. Everything at the Acura stand looks too big, too fat, too freaky. The antithesis of the Honda engineering values that once made Acura special enough to appeal to a wide audience: enthusiasts, luxury lovers and those with an appreciation for efficiency-minded design fundamentals.

The new TSX "Sport" Wagon? More weight, 4-cylinder and automatic only. That this is what Acura is passing off for "sport" these days pretty much says it all. Acura's chasing a customer it doesn't want and certainly doesn't understand. With vehicles increasingly out of sync with the brand and that no longer make a statement about Honda innovation.

Volkswagen: B-

The big play at the New York show was the 2011 Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid. Another too-pricey, too-equipped VW that won't sell.

Why in heaven's name does the hybrid version of the new-gen Touareg - from which VW engineers slashed a righteous 400 pounds - have to use a supercharged V6 and make 380 horsepower?

The people who love Jettas and love VW and love the earth might have been convinced to part with comparatively outsized cash for the privilege of driving the brand's first hybrid, but with the Touareg Hybrid's over-reaching engineering, Volkswagen's typical hamstringing sticker price is assured.

Everyone talks about the cost of diesels. We'll need somebody from VW to explain how the Touareg Hybrid makes more of a technology statement - or costs less - with a supercharged V6 than a diesel.

VW's New York show stand still looked appealing, and the sense is palpable: with a U.S. plant under construction and a certain amount of product (and pricing) refocus, VW may be on the cusp of great things.

Nissan: B-

Nissan pulled off a blistering March sales blitz, but its stand at the show seemed moribund.

The horrid little Juke mini-crossover with its flaky front and cruddy interior might even sell exactly to whom it's supposed to sell, first-job slackers and slackettes who weren't slayed by the Cube after all, but the fact remains many of Nissan's franchise players (Murano, Maxima and Pathfinder, to name a few) aren't pulling down the  fans they once did.

Meanwhile, the Infiniti upscale division's largely irrelevant, Geneva-show Essence hybrid concept car was downstaged by the screechingly awful 2011 QX56 fullsize SUV.

The QX56's acres of bulbous metal, chrome and goofy styling gee-gaws makes a profoundly inane impression that might be summarized as Infiniti's vision of melding the weirdness of its Cube with the '90s cluelessness of the Lincoln Navigator.

Ford: B

Never mind the all-new Explorer didn't show after all. Ford unveiled the Lincoln MKZ Hybrid, whose apparent claim to Lincoln-ness over the Ford Fusion Hybrid donor car is a different grille (who could have imagined) and a reworking of the already overwrought instrument-panel display that grows more leaves in accordance with ever more lightfooted driving.

But the soon-to-be-released Fiesta looks better all the time and gradually creeping gasoline prices may be just high enough when the car is launched to make the case for downsizing and play right into Ford planners' hands.

BMW: B

By regressing back to somewhat conventional styling, the all-new 5-Series seems to be bringing BMW back to its senses. The company is talking of only minor achievements this year and blatant displays of wanton horsepower were visibly deemphasized at the New York show.

While the new 5 is certainly - and refreshingly - less jarring, BMW still seems to be wandering. The facelifted X5 unveiled at the show is moving the needle in the wrong direction, the 1-Series and the 550i GT hatchback don't connect in this market, the 3-Series is almost sterile - maybe this is the car that should have got the hatchback treatment - and the overall impression is one of a company going through the motions.

Or preparing to reveal a major breakthrough?

General Motors: B-

GM's Chevrolet division overplayed the introduction of the 2011 Cruze Eco and an RS trim package - hyperbole about variants of a car that's been so excruciatingly long in coming, yet still isn't even on sale yet, is just grating.

Chevy is making the right play with the Cruze Eco, although we'll wonder how many of the high-mileage specials will be sold, given the signature 40-miles-per-gallon figure is delivered via a manual transmission.

Does Cadillac have no more pressing business than ensuring the world gets a V-Series variant of the CTS Sport Wagon? It's sure to be the vehicle of choice for all the emergent "car-guy" GM executives, but this is one vanity project the government should have stepped in to derail.

And watch out, Buick: the more we see the Regal concept car, the more derivative it looks. And that's the concept car.

Hyundai/Kia: A

Is there any stopping this freight train? The hybrid version of the 2011 Sonata was the most-anticipated unveiling at the New York show. And why? Other than the largemouth-bass front end, it's not like it is any different to look at than the already vaguely garish conventional Sonata.

It's because Hyundai gets it.

The Sonata Hybrid is launching at the perfect time to capitalize on the pent-up demand for a Hyundai eco-model. The Sonata Turbo might be engaging to drive and economical to boot - that used to be Honda's place when it still cared about such things.

Over at Kia, the all-new Optima (Kia's Sonata) is visually powerful, the interior is convincing enough to be factory outlet Audi and there's still the anticipation of a hybrid model, too.

Toyota/Lexus/Scion (B)

Toyota didn't intro a thing at the New York Show, preferring to lay low and let the unintended-acceleration storm pass.

There was a large video display dedicated not to hawking new wares, but explaining electronic throttle control and the built-in failsafes.

The new Scion tC didn't look that new in photos, but there's real meat in the design and more serious power underhood thanks to what is being called an all-new 2.5-liter 4-cylinder. The platform's claimed to be all-new, too, although major dimensions are the same. Whatever the case, the 2011 tC is usefully beefier and the flat grey paint of the car on display here was perfect.

Where will Scion get with the iQ microcar? American demand for urban runabouts is problematic, but it's safe to say Toyota will do better than Penske Automotive Group has with the fading smart brand: the iQ has room for more than two (there are seats, anyway, for two extras in the remarkably cramped rear you would expect of a car with a 78.7-inch wheelbase that is just 10 feet long overall) and isn't saddled with a deal-breaker like the smart's ill-developed automated manual transmission.

The real head-scratcher in New York was Lexus' CT 200h. First strike: premium hatchback. Strike two: Lexus is insisting the CT 200h will be invigorating to drive. As no hybrid yet has managed that, most are justifiably suspicious. Strike three: the targeting of "youth" buyers and a studiously off-kilter marketing campaign - revolving around a nonsensically violent interactive film and main character seemingly inspired by the "Tranporter" movie franchise - to support that misguided goal.

Good luck on all that, Lexus. We're not buying squealing-tire car chases with front-drive, 120-horsepower hybrids, and we suspect not too many younger prospects will, either. - Bill Visnic, Senior Editor

Michelle Krebs:  is Editor-in-Chief of AutoObserver.com. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.