2015 North American International Auto Show Notes

During a few freezing (I mean FREEZING) days in Detroit at the 2015 North American International Auto Show, we listened, looked and asked questions. Here are notes that you may not find elsewhere.

“This truck is badass!” – Bill Fay, Toyota Group Vice President and General Manager.

Toyota Tacoma Reveal

While I work on the full recap of the reveal on our sister site Tacomahq.com, I thought I would share a few teaser comments.

Did everyone notice how Toyota made ZERO mention of the Tacoma TRD PRO or was that just me?

Toyota says they sell more TRD packages than any other and this is why they are offering two different TRD trim levels. That’s great and all, but when was the last time you saw a non-TRD Tacoma on sale at the dealer… We haven’t seen one either and it is probably because dealers order it in with its better profit margin.

Did the new Tacoma grille look familiar to you? It should. Calty design wanted to incorporate similar design characteristics.

Sweers said they watched the Chevy Colorado re-introduction to the market very closely. Listening to the customers and watching the forums lead them to make a major change to their powertrain. (hint – it isn’t about the diesel).

Stay tuned.

Oh, before I move on. Did anyone notice the hood popping open when the sandy beige color Tacoma was driven on the stage. Driver Ryan Millen accidentally got his shoe lace caught in the hood latch release. How is that possible? This pre-production truck had the hood latch cable laying on the floor. As he drove over the hilly course to the stage this cable likely flopped around and slid inside his shoelace. He was pretty embarrassed, yet it made for a fun moment.

Special thanks to our friend Joe Bacal for talking with us prior to the event. Plus, great job setting up the event Joe!

The grille isn’t quite as obnoxious as it seems.

2016 Nissan Titan XD

Big, strong and powerful pretty much sums up the new Nissan Titan. Relying on the 5.0L Cummins Diesel to help it gain some traction, Nissan is trying hard to increase market share in the truck market and this Titan is an intriguing way to do it. During their press conference, they pointed out nearly 75,000 customers move up from a 1/2-ton to 3/4-ton each year. An equal amount move down from a 3/4-ton to a 1/2-ton. The point? Nissan says these customers are searching for an in-between and the Titan XD will fill that void as a heavy-duty 1/2-ton. Eh… I don’t really see it.

We will have more coverage on the Nissan Titan XD to come in the upcoming days and weeks. Two takeaways for now – Fred Diaz had a minimal role in the advertising and really didn’t have much to say on the truck. The truck has been in development since 2006 – long before Diaz got there. Second, Nissan is hoping to increase market share from less than 1 percent to 5 over the next year. The key word here is “hope.”

This new Raptor is a big wow! It may also have a big sticker and gas pump shock.

2017 Ford Raptor – Wow!

Once again, Ford rented out Joe Louis and once again, they blew the doors off the place. Early speculation was that they were going to show 1 of 3 models – Raptor, Shelby GT and GT performance car. Apparently that wasn’t enough and they decided let’s really wow the crowd with all 3! I certainly wasn’t complaining.

While most stories you will find on the web are full of what Ford officially released, here are some things they missed.

The high-output EcoBoost engine they are working on is really a stock 3.5L EcoBoost with a new tune (ours and others guess). This can be done pretty easily and with minimal investment from Ford (see: smart). I overheard that it is estimated this engine will deliever more HP and torque than the previous 6.2L V8 in the old Raptor. Yes, it will best the 411HP and 438 lb.-ft of torque. Yet, that will likely mean the Raptor will need to run on PREMIUM fuel. Why? High performance engines like this one and the one used in the Ford Mustang need the premium fuel to take advantage of the engine tune. Don’t believe us, believe Ford. Late last week, they admitted Ford Mustang owners who don’t use premium fuel will see a drop in HP … and less HP means worse MPG.

Oh and did you fall in love with that new blue paint color? We did too, but don’t expect to see it anytime soon. Thanks to information from our friend and colleague Chad Kirchner,  the paint is actually a mixture of 5 different colors. It requires quite a bit more work (see: expense) and it adds additional weight to the Raptor. After dropping weight, we suspect Ford doesn’t plan on adding it back on with paint.

One more note and a point of contention among many auto journalists. Ford decided to fly a few hundred “social influencers” to the show. These were the mommy blogger and 1 million FB friends people. For the reveal, Ford gave them a big key viewing section right in the middle of the arena as well as closed part of their showroom floor to them. While I can appreciate Ford’s outreach efforts, it was a bit disappointing to those of us who try to report on them.

The new Ram Rebel trim level package has a LOT of Ram badging.

2016 Ram Rebel “NOT A RAPTOR FIGHTER”

Ram made it clear, really clear, CRYSTAL clear to us the night before the unveil of the Rebel that it is NOT A RAPTOR FIGHTER. I couldn’t really figure this out until I saw it at the reveal. Throughout the pretty sweet introduction video and conversation, it was made apparent, Ram sees this truck as something different. They really don’t want the two trucks mentioned in the same article nor do they see them as competitors. The idea is a Rebel owner is different than a Raptor buyer. Also, a Rebel owner won’t do the same things. For example, the visuals showed the truck being driven through the backwoods or used in a remote work site.

This is great and all, but really.. c’mon. I would wager money within the first 24 hours of the Rebel hitting the dealer lot someone will upload a Youtube video showing the Raptor versus the Rebel. Sure the Raptor is more capable than the Rebel, but guys love to pit the Hemi against the EcoBoost already. It is a slam dunk and EVERY ONE will ultimately be comparing the two trucks.

While Toyota and Ford have been stamping there name on the tailgate, Ram glued on the letters. We see owners pulling these off ASAP.

By the way, did anyone else get the same thought I did? That is a true Rebel doesn’t drive around with a ton of badging on their trucks. If I am a Rebel, the first thing I would do is de-badge the entire thing and we are guessing they will too.

Lastly, the Ram Rebel will offer the Pentastar V6 as the standard engine. This means they will offer a lower MSRP, yet 90 percent of the models sold will have the larger 5.7L Hemi. We call this “fuzzy” marketing.

1 MPG Better EcoDiesel

During the same press conference to announce the Rebel, Ram President Reid Bigland announced the 1 MPG gain on the EcoDiesel before the Rebel was announced. Why are we talking about this after the Rebel? I was STUNNED by this news and Bigland was irritiantly short on the HOW they did it during his quick announcement. In fact, it was hard to turn our attention to the Rebel with the question of HOW at the front of our mind.

Its hard to photograph, but this isn’t your standard tonneau cover. It has a “hump” like a tent in the middle of the cover. It drops toward the cab and on the back plus off the sides. If you look closely at the bars, you can see this slight rise.

As you have undoubtedly read, the new Ram EcoDiesel is a HFE model. Namely, it is meant to offer maximum fuel economy. So… how did they do it? Did they re-tune the EcoDiesel, add 10 speeds like the Raptor or tweak the computer? Nope. They added a tonneau cover, changed the front fascia, added side rails and extended the air dam. Yep. The 1MPG gain was all due to aerodynamics.

The top is the standard EcoDiesel grille. The bottom is the new HFE grille.

My friend and colleague Aaron Turpen and I rushed over to the EcoDiesel while the masses strutted their stuff around the Rebel. In fact, we were the first and only journalists to be there. We looked over the truck quite closely and how they did it. It is quite innovative actually and we both think you will start to see “fuel improvement tonneau covers” being offered soon.

These side rails apparently obstruct the airflow at highway speeds and with the other changes add up to 1 MPG better.

While that is still a bit of a farce and up for debate, changing the front fascia and extending the air dam are not gimmicks. Take a moment and carefully look them over. Notice the lack of tow hooks and the 1 and a half inch or so deeper air dam. These small changes added up to the 1 MPG better highway.

This SUV/truck (sruck) looks a lot better in person and I think there is a market in urban areas, fleets and big cities like NYC.

Hyundai Santa Cruze

This event and reveal was pretty disappointing. Not because of the Hyundai Santa Cruze. This SUV/truck is actually really pretty great. No, it is because Hyundai’s speakers and marketing staff put together possibly the most boring event in the history of the auto show. You know that mono-tone teacher who lectured for seemingly forever. Yeah, it was that bad.

It seats 5 has a diesel turbo engine and a small bed ideal for hauling plants, dog food and bicycles among other things.

The Santa Cruze is/was much more exciting than the event. It is sadly, really just a concept. Looking at the underbody and looking more closely at it, you can see where they aren’t anywhere close to coming to production with it. Odds are IF – a big IF – they come to production with it, it will be 2 years from now. Currently, it is slated to have a 2.0L diesel as well. We wonder if that will be as sought after 2 years from now.