9:00 AM
--I forgot a couple of very interesting things we got to see yesterday. Two of which were at the Toyota media dinner (why didn't anyone warn me about the little sausages—way too spicy. Toyota burps all night). Toyota announced that they'll have a clean diesel V-8 for both the new Sequoia and Tundra. We're guessing they'll have it as a premium option choice before the 2009 model year runs out, so look for it for sale by the end of this year.
--The Toyota A-BAT stands for Advanced Breakthrough Aerodynamic Truck, but some of the Toyota designers said they had a different bet name for it: A Bad Ass Truck. Regardless, this concept is a strong indication what the company is thinking. With Tacoma getting so big, there's plenty of room for a smaller, entry-level pickup. The only question becomes is there a market or interest in that segment. Entry-level pickups used to be the only way a new buyer could get into the big-truck tower on the bottom floor. But with so much push in the half-ton segment, and such fierce competition, pricing has practically killed the compact truck segment. Numbers are hugely off and there isn't a single company investing much at all in new product. Honestly, unless Toyota can work some of the at Prius magic (in finding a niche no one even knew existed, then hope for great timing), I'm not sure for who or how this will work. The size makes sense and an efficient has to be the price of entry to this type of vehicle, but the powertrain is expensive and there are a flock of cheap compact pickups from China and India just waiting to break into the U.S. market without any high-tech frills. We'll what makes sense, but at least they're thinking. Now if they can just get rid of that fish-face, I'd be just fine.
--I'm going on record stating that this year's best name to a future technology goes to Ford for EcoBoost. In a single word, it communicates both an environmentally friendly face (Eco), with an implication that there is some type of power increase (Boost). Green power is what this show (and maybe the last few) is all about but it took Ford to put name to the trend. Hey, here's a new tagline: "Ford—EcoBoosting the world so our children can enjoy their horsepower. "
9:30 AM
--I spoke to Bruce Campbell, design chief for Nissan North America, yesterday where he shared some of his team strategies when designing new vehicles. At that time I hadn't seen his latest creation, the Forum, as we stood discussing the Freeman Thomas designed Ford Explorer America. He suggested I take a look and see how it shaped up. He was right. It really was worth a closer look. Clearly a youthful interpretation on the minivan, but with some clever deviations. In fact, in one of the most obvious additions to a minivan I've ever seen, Bruce's team incorporated a microwave, perfect for popping popcorn, right in the front armrest. Clever and simple quite possibly the fastest way to quiet down a team of rambunctious pre-teens on the way to the in-laws. Combine that with a DVD system and you can see the beauty of this. Note to Nissan: If this gets the green light, we'd strongly suggest you have the dealerships stock extra Dust Busters as a dealer option. They'll make a mint. Beyond that, swoopy lines on a minivan in exactly the opposite direction to the luke-warm Nissan Quest seems to be a good direction. And the interior materials and layout is spectacular, even if buttery fingertips would destroy the top-quality leather.
10:00 AM
--Finally got to get by the BMW booth to look at the new X6, a kind of crossover half-way between the stunning (happens to be one of my top five car designs of all time) 6-Series coupe and the standard BMW X5 sport-activity vehicle. Picture a stubbier X5 SUV shape without any headroom for the rear passengers or much cargo area for rear passengers. Although the execution seems pretty well done, and I'm guessing this will have every inch of the typical BMW-ness ride and handling prowess that their other vehicles have, I have to wonder why this shouldn't fall into the category of "Answers to questions no one is asking" category. Just because you can make a performance SAV that straddles a coupe and SUV doesn't mean you should. My small mind can only assume they're seeing BMW buyers who aren't too impressed with the X5 or X3 characteristics because it has too much weight and not enough sportiness so they're coming out with this "tweener" to bring those more hardcore BMW guys into the fold again. Sort of like what Porsche had to do when they came out with their SUV (better 911 and Cayman) and what they'll probably have to do again with the four-door sedan Panamera comes out as well. I'll give them this: BMW is keeping to their guns and focusing like a laser beam on their five or seven thousand customers who might be clamoring for this. More likely this is platform sharing gone awry. Maybe that's why they've decided to show the X6 with their new 2-Mode Hybrid system.
10:50 AM
--Was taking a rest at the Dodge booth, next to a new CrewCab RamBox Ram 1500 and saw Jim Press, Chrysler's new head of state and Toyota's past top American, and noticed Mr. Press searching the Toyota floor, which happened to be right across the walkway of the convention center. It struck me that just about everything on the floor at Toyota had Jim's stamp of approval, and not even the Ram, that he now stood in front, had more than a fingerprint of his influence. After his interview, Jim Press gave a wave in the direction of the Toyota people, or so I thought. When I looked over I couldn't see anyone who was waving back or even noticed him.
One of the Ram guys at the booth said the marketing team almost brought a dozen or so floor creapers to include with the display because they knew there'd be some truck guys among the journalists that'd be interested to take a look underneath. In the end, they decided against it but that would have been a cool thing to see.
Photos by Melissa Spiering