I've just returned from the Detroit Auto show press preview dragging a couple of Scion touks, a Fiat espresso cup, a Tesla Roadster Hot Wheels car and a bunch of exciting interviews and photos with me. The show was far quieter than my 2008 deput where the Dodge Ram unveil involved thousands of steers cowboy'd down the main city drag, but what it lacked in rock n roll spend it somewhat recovered with innovation. On Electric Avenue I drove the Chevvy Volt and the Mercedes F-Cell B Class. I am particularly excited about the F-Cell because this is user-friendly and doable hydrogen power in use, and the F-Cell B Class is about to drive around the world, including 3 stops across Australia, to prove it. Unlike most of the electric cars the B Class is all about looking "normal": it starts with a key not a button, it shifts with a shifter rather than computer controls, and it brakes with a hand brake rather than yet another button. Acceleration is immediate and effective, and the backing of Mercedes best in class safety makes me a happy camper.
Merc's SLS in Devo-Fluro yellow is what truly makes me an uber happy camper tho. The yellow matt paintwork emphasises the jagged slashes of the air intakes and side vents and the whole thing just oozes coolth. And its electric.....
Meanwhile I dont want to gush on about Mercedes but their Star Bar was the ultimate place for good coffee and free breakfast lunch and afternoon tea. I cornered chief Interior Designer Hartmut Zinkwitz over an espresso to get more info on Merc's plans to take their interiors in the realm of curvy but I think I scared him - not so their Head of Safety who had a great no-holds barred chat about how our highways would be safer at 130km/hr than 80.
SMART is doing an air-bag-equipped city scooter which looks good, and Venturi had a cool electric "buggy" concept which the designer said was "a sportscar at the sixe of the American user" ie supersized.
Meanwhile I dont want to gush on about Mercedes but their Star Bar was the ultimate place for good coffee and free breakfast lunch and afternoon tea. I cornered chief Interior Designer Hartmut Zinkwitz over an espresso to get more info on Merc's plans to take their interiors in the realm of curvy but I think I scared him - not so their Head of Safety who had a great no-holds barred chat about how our highways would be safer at 130km/hr than 80.
SMART is doing an air-bag-equipped city scooter which looks good, and Venturi had a cool electric "buggy" concept which the designer said was "a sportscar at the sixe of the American user" ie supersized.
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