The North American International Auto Show – known locally by its acronym of “NAIAS” or to you and I as the Detroit motorshow – sweeps the entire car industry off to frozen Detroit each January.
Increasingly Detroit feels like a sideshow to the car-dominated CES that takes place the week before, and those the brave the frozen wastes are always hoping for a few surprises to make the frostbite worthwhile. This year, we got lucky.
Detroit – Motown – is of course the home of the motor industry and the home of the American ‘big three’ – Ford, GM and Chrysler – who traditionally each year battle it out to steal the headlines and woo would-be car buyers.
2015 was the turn of Ford to shine. With its surprise of unveil of a new GT supercar, Ford guaranteed itself all of the headlines. Flanked by a high-performance GT 350R Mustang and Raptor version of its F150 pick-up, the Ford story was all about performance.
This contrasted to home-town rival GM, who showed off two new electric cars – the next generation Volt, and the more exciting Bolt. Pity that fuel prices are falling through the floor. Chrysler, by contrast, had a quiet year with only a new version of its pick-up truck to talk about. New cars from Audi, Acura (Honda) and a handful of new concepts cars made the trip across the pond worthwhile, so check out our full gallery for plenty of pics from the show floor.
Next stop on the auto show merry-go-round is Geneva, in the first week of March. Neutral ground always brings out the competitive spirits of Europe’s big guns, so expect the automotive year to get properly into the swing of things in the Palexpo in just seven weeks time.