IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO TAKE YOUR mind off the recession when you’re in DETROIT, with doom, gloom and other words ending in ‘oom’ everywhere. Nevertheless, the BIG Three were trying fairly hard to put on a somber but – hopeful face on things. And mostly, they succeeded. At least General Motors and Ford did, with a few interesting thoughtful concepts from both. Chrysler thought was definitely looking soupy: apart from the 200C, they had nothing of note. And who had to come along and make things worse? The Germans of course, who partied hard. Heh heh. Chrysler’s 200c IF THE GODFATHER WERE to be made now based on an American mafia family, they would have the 300cc as the family car for sure. And if that family had an errant son who hated the family business, he could be forced into this – the law abiding, very proper 200cc concept from Chrysler. It’s an electric rear – wheel drive four – door with a 640km petrol – electric range, has windows tinted in warm bronze to keep the sun out and reduce air – conditioning costs and even manages to use eco – friendly water – based colours for paint. And if you aren’t leaving the city, its 65km range on pure electric power should see through. FEATURES: • 200 cc rear-wheel drive • 640km petrol – electric range • Four – doors • Tinted in Warm Bronze Ford’s Taurus WITH TONGUE FIRMLY IN cheek, this was Ford’s original American best seller. The TAURUS had lose – it – in – the – car – park styling, and let’s – go – to – sleep driving dynamics. But it worked. For Detroit 2009, Ford seems to have done something drastically awesome to its bread and butter car. And to match the show Ford will be plonking in a 3.5 – litre V6. Nobody outside the States is going to get it, but the Taurus is a legend when you consider it bought home the bread for Ford. It deserves this rejuvenation. FEATURES: • Sleep driving dynamics • Available in 3.5 – litre V6 • Bold Headlights • Aggressive curvings Cadillac’s Converj ACTUALLY CADILLAC SHOULD take that as a compliment. We’ll spare you the intricacies of how this Cadillac concept’s electric vehicle works. Instead, we’ll tell you how the Converj [Converge isn’t an interesting name for a concept, you dimwit], goes the whole hog in aerodynamics. The underside is covered with a pan to protect the mech…err, electicals and to eliminate drag. There are barely any vents in the vehicle because it’s an electric vehicle. It has rear-view cameras instead of wing mirrors to, you guessed it right, eliminate drag. It’s got wheels that push air outward to eliminate drag, too. FEATURES: • Eco – Friendly • Electrically Charged • Drag resistance Mercedes’ BlueZERO MERCEDES IS TAKING HYBRID tech to an entirely new level by saying : “You can have any car as you like. As long as it looks like a fish.” Jokes apart, the BlueZERO is an electric concept using what Merc calls sandwich architecture. Don’t like ham? Put in tomatoes, or cheese. But bread remains the same. So you have the BlueZERO E-Cell battery electric that can go 190km on a single charge. Then the BlueZERO F-Cell fuel cell electric that doesn’t require a recharge till you cover 395km. Or even the E-Cell PLUS, which can do 590km on its battery-internal combustion power. Mayo, anyone? FEATURES: • Eco – Friendly • Electrically Charge • Available in : 1. E – Cell => 190km range(on a single charge) 2. F – Cell => 395km range(on a single charge) 3. E – Cell + => 590km range(on a single charge) America’s Sunset THEY HAIL FISKER AS THE future of American motoring. While others are still struggling to come to terms the fact that they use megablocks for engines any more, Fisker started life as a hybrid sports car specialist. And last year saw the Karma, a four-door sports car with the batteries right in the middle of the car to lower the center of gravity. For 2009, they chopped two doors off, chopped the roof off and called it the Sunset. Now, we might get where they are coming from…but…Sunset? With the credit crunch? Hot News in America : • Fisker is outdated by Sunset… FEATURES: • Roof up and Roof down facility • Metallic Roof