Detroit twenty-ten

The time for smaller, greener and neater packaged European flavoured vehicles had arrived at the North American International Auto Show, as Jonny Smith finds

January’s Detroit NAIAS (North American International Auto Show) was a showcase of downsized dieting, and a chance for car companies to reveal their business (and eco) strategies to the biggest car consumer on planet earth. Here are my five green stars of MoTown.

Honda CR-Z
Honda continues to champion the world of hybrids with this production-ready CR-Z – labelled the world’s first sporty hybrid. It’s certainly the first to boast a conventional manual gearbox. While the styling unashamedly nods at Honda’s 1980s cult boxy pocket rocket CRX, this small front-wheel drive 2+2 is squarely aimed at sprinkling sportiness into the future of eco driving. A 108bhp (71lb ft) 1.5 i-VTEC petrol engine teams up with a 10Kw electric motor to boost performance to a rather paltry 122bhp with 128lb ft of torque. In other words, the CR-Z will be as torquey as a 1.8-litre Civic, yet spitting out 35g/km less CO2 at 117g/km. A mpg figure of 56.4mpg is claimed, but let’s not forget this is a parallel hybrid that can never drive solely on electric power.
    
Hybrids have never really set the heart ablaze, and Honda hopes this Insight-based CR-Z could be the car ‘you don’t have to abandon your passions for’. But with a tepid nine second 0-60mph dash and styling heavily diluted from its cutting-edge concepts, we will have to wait ‘til the 1200kg CR-Z goes on sale this summer (circa £17,000) to find out. Let’s hope it’s mighty nimble.
 
Tesla Model S
Here is an exceptionally impressive fully electric sports saloon, brought to you by the people who brought us the only proper 100 per cent electric Roadster. Certainly not related to Ford’s Model T, the American designed (and made) Tesla Model S is an all-alloy four-door seven-seater sports hatchback. With production intended to start next year and priced from $49,900 (£31,000), customers for the 130mph Model S will be able to choose between three battery packs, depending on the desired range (130, 230 or 300 miles).
    
Three adults sit in the back and a flip-up pair of seats can be deployed from the boot area. A key feature is the enormous 17-inch interactive touch screen in the dash. With power to the rear wheels, Brembo brakes and 0-60 in 5.6 seconds, the li-ion powered liquid cooled electric Tesla is making the right noises for sexy volt propelled exotica.

New Ford Focus
Despite being the only one of the ‘big three’ American car makers to decline government bailouts, Ford strutted into MoTown with a simple but clever global game plan. Take decent quality, nimble, economical European designed cars like the Fiesta and this new Focus, then build and sell them largely unaltered to the rest of the world. There was something Kia Ceed about it in pictures, but Ford is confident this new Focus will continue the massively successful Focus bloodline. They must be, the new Focus’ underpinnings will be used on up to 10 forthcoming models.
    
Expect a brace of EcoBoost direct injection turbo petrol and TDCI diesel engines which sip 10-20 per cent less fuel compared to the outgoing car. There’s a neat new (more sophisticated) generation of Ford’s SYNC® connectivity package for Bluetooth, Nav and our increasingly precious mp3 media gizmos. The small – but very significant – Mr Bill Ford told us the news that ‘Ford’s Focus will be the CO2 and fuel efficiency leader in every world market.’ He also revealed that there will be a Focus plug-in hybrid on its way before 2012, built in Michigan.

Mercedes S-class / ML hybrid
To prove that the super-sized vehicles can still have a place in society, Mercedes tugged the sheets off a S400 hybrid saloon and ML450 hybrid. With a sack full of awards already under its belt, Merc claim their flagship luxury saloon can now boast V8-like performance with four-cylinder fuel economy. The same goes for their ML SUV.
    
Both cars utilise a 275hp V6 petrol engine, but while the S-class has a single 20hp electric motor, the ML450 boasts twin electric motors to achieve 335hp (381lb ft) in total. The ML Hybrid reportedly uses 46 per cent less petrol than the V8 engined ML550 model, returning 24mpg (US gallons) on the motorway. The S-class scores 26mpg (US gallons) when on the open road.
    
Integrated inside the ML Hybrid’s automatic transmission, the twin magneto electric motors serve a specific purpose: one on the output shaft (80hp) to pull away purely under electric power, the other (83hp) set-up specifically for assisting acceleration. While the S400 Hybrid feeds off lithium-ion batteries, beneath the ML’s cargo floor lives liquid cooled 288-volt nickel-metal-hydride cells. Furthering its emission reduction, the ML is equipped with an electrically powered air con compressor, so you can stay cool regardless of the stop-start engine.

BMW ActiveE concept
BMW claim it’s merely a concept, but the ActiveE shows that the German company has its sights set on creating a 100 per cent electric car. Sticking their technology underneath a 1-series coupe proves that this will almost certainly become a reality – part of BMW’s Project i masterplan to roll out EVs across their whole range.  
    
Already showcased on the Mini E, this batt BM will be used (for now at least) as a pilot test programme for fleet and a select few private motorists. The ActiveE remains faithful to BMW brand by transmitting 184lb ft of torque through the rear axle, where the 125kW synchronous electric motor is also mounted. Partnering up with battery specialist SB LiMotive to provide the lithium ion cell packs, the BMW manages a range of 100 miles (recharging in three hours with high current supply) and 0-60mph in under nine seconds. But it’s just too chubby, tipping scales at 1800kg.

Wildcard
Bentley is probably the last company you expect to be chatting about alternative fuels, but sure enough a bio-Bentley is coming our way. At last year’s Geneva show the VW owned company laid down an eco strategy to cut tailpipe emissions by 15 per cent by 2012, and launched the 621bhp 204mph Supersports model that could run on E85 bio-ethanol.
    
The forthcoming Mulsanne model on display at Detroit promises to go one better and, according to Engineering Chief Uli Eichorn, will be available as a flexfuel version. He also pointed out it will be the torquiest V8 on sale, with 750lb ft under your right foot. Watch out Rolls Royce.