Rockin’ the show

For all intents and purposes, the recent North American International Auto Show could have been called the General Motors Auto Show. Or, at the very least, the Chevy and Caddy Show.

If they ever created a Renaissance Award for the show, Chevrolet and Cadillac would be the runway winners. Virtually day after day, a new Chevrolet or Cadillac model or concept would be unveiled. And the Detroit press went on a feeding frenzy, flashing cars with the Chevy bowtie or the Cadillac crest on the front page or the evening news every single day. And if it weren’t the cars, it would be GM’s President Rick Wagoner or Vice-Chairman Bob Lutz flashing their pearly whites.

It was not all flash and no substance, however. For the first time in what seemed like ages, the new GM cars sported exterior designs that quickly became the talk of the town. Sure, there were inspired creations from other automakers, but none seemed as consistently dominant across a broad swath of automotive genres as the two high-profile marques of GM, as these pictures attest. We can only hope that some of them make their way to our shores.

Cadillac Sixteen – Nearly 20 feet long and boasting a mind-boggling 1,000 hp from a humongous 13.5-liter V16 engine, Cadillac’s Sixteen ultra-luxury concept car is the GM premium brand’s attempt to wrest back its "Standard of the World" slogan from luxury car rivals like Rolls-Royce and Mercedes-Benz’s upcoming Maybach. Rumored to cost as much as $300,000 if ever it goes into production, this four-wheeled Lear Jet features a power reclining rear seat, hand-woven silk carpets, ambient lighting and custom-made crystal for the gauges.

Chevrolet Cheyenne – This could very well be the next-generation Chevy Silverado full-size pickup. The passenger cab sits well forward on the Cheyenne’s extruded aluminum chassis to create the large interior without intruding on the 6-foot long cargo bed. Two rear-hinged side-access doors immediately behind the cab provide easy access to the front of the cargo bed. The tailgate opens either from the bottom of the bed or in the middle to accommodate small loads or create a work shelf.

Under the Cheyenne’s front-hinged clamshell hood, a supercharged 6.0-liter V8 produces 500 hp and 580 lbs-ft of torque. The four-wheel-drive concept pickup has an independent rear suspension and GM’s rear-steering system. The two-piece glass roof incorporates a sunroof, while the seat mechanisms are built into the floor to create more space.

Chevrolet SS – Chevrolet might never build this car (what a shame!), but the SS concept sedan clearly shows the direction GM’s high-volume brand wants to take as it revives the Super Sport badge for high-performance versions of mainstream cars like the Impala and Monte Carlo.

The rear-wheel-drive SS concept cranks that performance to the max, with a 430-hp 6.0-liter V8. Chevrolet says the engine could use GM’s Displacement on Demand system, which shuts down half the cylinders in most driving conditions and reactivates them almost instantly for acceleration. The DoD system will be available on some GM models in 2004.

With its long hood and truncated tail, the SS visually recalls Chevy’s in-house icon, the Corvette, but the car is a legitimate four-door sedan with room for five adults. The SS has a steel body and aluminum chassis with independent suspension and driver-adjustable shock absorbers.

Chevrolet Malibu – The new front-drive Malibu was developed alongside European sport sedans like the Saab 9-3 and Open Vectra, and it boasts a body structure as stiff as the sporty Audi A4. Expected to have a price of $19,000 when it goes on sale in the US this September, the handsome Toyota Camry-sized Malibu comes with a 2.2-liter entry-level four-banger and an optional 3.5-liter 200-hp V6.

Chevrolet Colorado – The all-new Colorado midsize pickup is a step-up from the Chevy S10 it replaces. It has a unique 3.5-liter inline-5-cylinder engine that makes more power and gets better fuel mileage than competitors’ V6 engines. It will be the first midsize pickup to sport ceiling-mounted side airbags.

Chevrolet will offer a wide array of Colorado models including two – and four-wheel-drive and a regular cab, extended with two rear-hinged doors and a rear compartment with two jump seats, and a crew cab with four standard doors. Chevrolet expects to sell around 200,000 Colorados in the US annually, more than half of them priced at less than $20,000.

Cadillac XLR – You’d be forgiven for thinking that Cadillac’s XLR roadster is nothing more than a rebodied Corvette. For one thing, both are made in the Corvette’s bowling Green, Kentucky assembly plant. For another, both sports cars come with high-performance V8 engines and are clothed with composite body panels. The similarities end there, however. The two cars are actually totally different.

The XLR is powered by a state-of-the-art 315-hp 4.6-liter 32-valve all-aluminum Northstar V8, not the Corvette’s pushrod 16-valve 5.7-liter V8. It has a power-operated retractable hardtop and is shifted only by a five-speed automatic transmission. Needless to say, it comes with all manner of performance, luxury and convenience features befitting a top-of-the-line-performance roadster.