American Hustle: Chevrolet steals the show in Detroit

Detroit, Michigan, USA—They rolled out a stunning new luxury coupe. They unveiled a brace of kick-ass pickup trucks. They unleashed two breathtakingly sleek—and blindingly yellow—supercars. They introduced a new CEO amidst hoopla befitting royalty. Oh, and they won the two automotive awards that are the most coveted in American automobiledom.

“They” is General Motors. And while they may have enjoyed a little bit of a home court advantage, it did little to take away from their achievements over the course of an uncharacteristically flashy North American International Auto Show. 

After spending an interminable number of years in the sales doldrums, Detroit is bouncing back. From a low of 10 million units sold five years ago at the depths of the recession (down from the 16-million-per-year average from 1998 to 2007), North America is on track to deliver over 16 million cars and trucks this year.

This bullishness showed in the dizzying array of gleaming luxury sedans, low-slung sports cars, and of course, those big chrome-laden pickups trucks and SUVs that America has always had a love affair with. Low emissions and alternative-fuel vehicles like hybrids, fuel cells, and electric cars were present, but they were conspicuous by their off-center stage positioning within their corporate displays. They were virtually on the sidelines of Detroit’s vast Cobo Center.

This year big and fast is what’s it’s all about. Thankfully, big and fast are accompanied by heavy doses of cutting-edge technology, so you’ll be seeing lightweight aluminum-bodied trucks as well as surprisingly powerful turbocharged small-displacement engines in cars that seem way too large for the mighty-mite motors. Quite a few cars even drive themselves.

And the two awards? Nothing less than the North American Car and Truck of the Year, which went to the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and Chevrolet Silverado, respectively—a one-two punch that underscored the fact that GM, after flirting with bankruptcy, is well and truly back.

All things considered, it was an inspired 2014 North American International Auto Show—made even more inspired by the donning of a Bowtie.

Cadillac ATS Coupe

Cadillac’s first-ever compact luxury coupe goes on sale in North America this summer, offering drivers the choice of rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, and the power from two direct-injected variable valve timing-equipped engines: a 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder or a 3.6L V6, both mated to 6-speed automatics (a 6-speed manual is an option for the turbo 2-liter).

Thanks to its advanced construction, the aggressive-looking ATS Coupe is currently the lightest car in the compact luxury coupe segment. The 2.0L Turbo engine generates 272hp and 400Nm of torque (the 3.6L V6 delivers 321hp and 373Nm), giving it an advantage in power and weight over its German-made coupe rivals. The ATS Coupe accelerates from 0-60 mph in just 5.6 seconds.

Bold lighting elements are a Cadillac signature feature and the ATS Coupe advances that tradition with LED headlamps and taillamps. Inside, the Coupe features handcrafted cut-and-sewn upholstered interior combinations, decorative stitching and authentic materials, including leather, aluminum, carbon fiber and wood, intended to enhance the emotional connection to the driving experience.

Available interior features include GM’s OnStar 4G LTE connectivity with built-in Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth phone and audio connectivity with natural voice recognition, text-to-voice that converts incoming text messages to speech and reads them over the audio system speakers, USB, auxiliary and SD memory card ports, SiriusXM Satellite Radio, reconfigurable 5.7-inch, three-window instrument panel cluster display, full-color reconfigurable head-up display, a 12-speaker Bose premium audio system with Active Noise Cancelation technology, and the very cool and convenient capability to remotely start the engine or lower the windows with the owner’s smartphone.

Cadillac is one American luxury car marque that could easily find a foothold in the brand-conscious Philippine car market.

Chevrolet Corvette Z06

America’s sports car levels up. This world-class supercar is the closest link yet between a Corvette race car and a production model. Building on the multi-award-winning Corvette Stingray, which was launched at last year’s Detroit Auto Show, the awe-inspiring Corvette Z06 was engineered to be lightweight—with an aluminum space frame chassis, carbon-fiber hood and removable carbon-fiber roof panel. It was also designed to be ultra-fast, with a thundering supercharged 6.2L aluminum V8 engine pumping out 625+ hp and over 700 Nm of torque.

The 2015 Corvette Z06 is the only 600+hp supercar to offer a choice of two transmissions: a 7-speed manual or an all-new paddle-shift 8-speed automatic. The virtually race-ready Z06 elevates the experience even further with technologies like a Driver Mode Selector, which allows for customization of vehicle performance dynamics with the turn of a knob. Corvette owners can even relive their drives on or off the track with the available industry-exclusive Performance Data Recorder, which records high-definition video with telemetry overlays on playback.

Performance-wise and looks-wise, the Z06 puts the Corvette smack dab near the top of the supercar food chain—long the province of those exotic sports cars whose names end in “i”—at an astonishingly much lower price. The Corvette Z06 hits North American Chevrolet showrooms in early 2015.

Chevrolet C7-R

Taking up where its illustrious predecessor, the Corvette C6-R, left off, the new Corvette C7-R race car hits the tarmac ready to race with a an aluminum frame and a 5.5-liter naturally-aspirated V8 with yet-unspecified output. Racing regulations limited the engine’s displacement, but direct injection gives the C7-R more power and more precise throttle control than its road-going siblings.

A rear-mounted 6-speed racing sequential gearbox sends power to the 18-inch alloys, which house huge steel brake rotors clamped by 6-piston calipers. Aero appendages include an aggressive front splitter and a huge rear wing, as well as a forward-tilted radiator and ventilation in the hood and front quarter panels. The C7-R will race in various motorsport series, kicking off with the Rolex 24 at Daytona on January 23, just a little over a week after making its public debut. It will also compete in the prestigious and grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

GMC Canyon

Launched separately at the Russell Industrial Center on the eve of the opening of NAIAS, the Canyon midsized pickup will give GMC, GM’s truck-and SUV-only brand, the only three-size truck lineup in the industry. The new Canyon is expected to deliver the segment’s best horsepower (193hp from a standard 2.5L I-4 and 302hp from a 3.6L V6); the segment’s best payload of 1,450 pounds; the segment’s best maximum trailering rating of 6,700 pounds; and even greater capability with a powerful and efficient Duramax 2.8L turbodiesel engine coming in 2016.

Three body configurations are offered: an extended cab model with a six-foot bed, a crew cab with a five-foot bed and a crew cab with a six-foot bed. The Canyon’s technologies include OnStar 4G LTE connectivity with a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot and segment-first driver alert features such as forward collision alert, lane departure warning and a standard rear-vision camera. RemoteLink Key Fob Services allow owners to lock and unlock their vehicle, flash the lights and honk the horn, and even remotely start the engine using the RemoteLink smartphone app.

The cabin boasts exceptional attention to detail and premium appointments, including a 4.2-inch multi-info screen, a sculpted headliner that enhances headroom, halo lighting on key controls for easier viewing, and an open area at the front of the center console for easier phone charging.