The motoring year is certainly well underway when the Detroit show starts. Always a big expo for the US manufacturers, this year also saw significant debuts from Mercedes, Alfa and Porsche. Oh, and the small matter of the Honda NSX too.
Things couldn't be more British than a Lotus at Hethel and Bentley in Wales which we have too. Plenty to keep you entertained over the weekend!
The other mid-engined V6 sports car at Detroit...
There's one car that's still dominating everyone's reaction to Detroit, and that's
the Ford GT
. Not only for the fact it's a 600hp replacement for one of the 21st century's most exciting supercars, but also because it was a total surprise. It takes a lot to shock a cynical motoring community and yet the GT has done it. It will go into production next year, a celebration of 50 years since the GT40 won at Le Mans.
There was plenty else on show in the Cobo Center that merited attention too. Not content with the GT Ford also displayed the GT350R, a Mustang with real track aspiration and you would assume aptitude give the spec. The Honda (or Acura as it will be in the States) NSX was finally shown in production form, albeit to a fairly lukewarm reception from some. No such reaction at Cadillac, where it sounds like all were very keen to see a CTS with 640hp. Any lingering doubts about the confidence of the US car industry have surely been eliminated at Detroit.
Away from the domestic manufacturers, Detroit also saw debuts from Lexus with the GS F, Mini with the Cooper S JCW and Alfa with the very pretty 4C Spider. Rather more subtle than those but equally appealing was the Mercedes C450 AMG Sport, a sub-C63 that still boasts 367hp and looks great. That other Mercedes at Detroit didn't look great and hopefully if it's not mentioned by name it might just go away.
Not a GT3 as we know it but still a fine car
That wasn't actually the end of PH's motor show coverage this week. The
Tokyo Auto Salon
exhibited all the best (and worst) of Japanese car modifying, with exhibits ranging from a NISMO GT-R to a Suzuki Mighty Boy styled to looks like a BMW M3.
But we promised a British focus and that's what we've had throughout the week. The latest McLaren Sport Series teaser again hasn't told us much but there's been much more to discuss. The Lotus Elise S Cup is the fastest, most focused and most expensive Elise ever. Hardly a rational £50K sports car purchase but still one of the best driver's cars around.
At the other end of the stripped-out (that being a relative term) sports car scale the Bentley Continental GT3-R has also been driven. It's easily good enough to clear the memory of 'Bentayga' being confirmed as the Bentley SUV name. For a little while at least.
And the British theme continues into our regular features too. The
Twisted Land Rover Defender
has departed the PH Fleet with a snowy off-road expedition and our Carpool PHer continued the Lotus love with a gorgeous
Exige LF1
Our £100K Garages for 2015 have kicked off too with three this week. See Monday, Wednesday and Friday for some inspiration Impreza 22B on your own. Also pinched from the classifieds this week were an immaculate and the cheapest 996 911 we've yet seen. There's plenty of discussion already on the latter, as you may well imagine.
Finally, seeing as it has been the car of this week, a couple more features on the Ford GT. See here for our brief chat with Raj Nair, Ford's vice president of Global Development, and here for your new GT wallpaper!
- 991 GT3 versus the road and track
- Mercedes-AMG C63 first drive
- UK tests of BMW i8, Mini Cooper S 5-Door and more
- Clio Renaultsports market watch
- BMW E39 M5 buying guide