2004 Detroit Auto Show: AutoWeek Editors' Choice Awards Announced

DETROIT, Jan. 7, 2004 -- The best of the best displayed at the 2004 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) were honored this evening at the AutoWeek Design Forum at Cobo Conference/Exhibition Center, Detroit, Mich.

The AutoWeek Editors' Choice Awards were revealed by AutoWeek Editor and Associate Publisher Dutch Mandel during the Design Forum's dinner program.

The winning vehicles in the AutoWeek Editors' Choice Awards, as selected from the 2004 NAIAS by the magazine's editorial staff, are:

Most Fun - Pontiac Solstice: "Give General Motors credit for staying true to the Solstice concept, the car GM product czar Bob Lutz ordered up 15 weeks before the 2002 Detroit show," said AutoWeek Senior News Editor Bob Gritzinger. "That car took home AutoWeek's Best in Show award. This low- slung production version takes the Solstice concept to reality and passes our fun test in the process." This rear-drive roadster is powered by a 170-hp 2.4-liter dohc four cylinder engine and is linked to a short-throw, close- ratio five-speed manual transmission. It rides on an all-new global platform -- called Kappa -- one that GM already promises will underpin a wide range of sporty small cars. Lutz says the 2006 Pontiac Solstice will carry a starting sticker price south of $20,000 when it rolls into showrooms by mid-2005. "To that," Gritzinger said, "we say, sign us up."

Best Concept - Chrysler ME Four-Twelve: "Chrysler aimed to surprise the world with this unexpected concept car, and it did. The ME Four-Twelve is a mid-engine, quad-turbo V12-powered supercar boasting 850 hp, 850 lb-ft with ambitions no lower than to out-Enzo Ferrari. That's no mere surprise," said AutoWeek Executive Editor Kevin Wilson, "it's an ambush." The ME Four- Twelve's all-alloy engine is a 365-cid/5980-cc dry-sump V12 with four turbochargers and dual-core intercoolers, a 6800-rpm redline and makes 142 hp/liter. While others start with a car and adapt an engine into it, Chrysler designed the ME Four-Twelve around the engine sourced from the racing experts at AMG. Engineering heavily influenced the design, as did rigid discipline to achieve a 1300-kg (2860 pound) weight target. And, with 39 inches of headroom and 42 inches of legroom, this is one supercar with room for even the tallest drivers in the cockpit."

Most Significant - Toyota FTX: "Since jumping into the North American truck market with the full-size Tundra in 1999, Toyota's efforts to woo lunch- bucket U.S. truck buyers have been less than successful. All that ends in 2006," said Gritzinger, "when the next-generation Tundra begins rolling off the assembly lines at the Japanese automaker's brand-spankin' new plant in the heart of Texas. What's especially significant to us is that Toyota folks say the 19-foot long, seven-foot wide, six-and-a-half foot tall body-on-frame 4x4 FTX full-size pickup concept is a broad hint of the bigger, badder, brawnier size and styling we can expect in the next V8-powered Tundra. Designed at Toyota's Calty Center in California, FTX draws on Land Cruiser cues as well as Toyota's split truck personality to forecast what we'll see down the road from America's next number two automaker."

Best in Show - Ford Shelby Cobra Concept: "With the debut of the Shelby Cobra concept, Ford completes a power trilogy of sorts, reliving its performance past with the new Mustang, Ford GT and now this homage to the legacy of Carroll Shelby, the aging monarch of speed who's returned home after a several-decades falling out with the Blue Oval boys," said AutoWeek Editor Mike Floyd. "Unlike the GT, this Cobra is modern in its design philosophy. But there are cues to past Shelby creations, like the yawning, semicircular air dam, side vents and all the curvaceous sheet metal needed to cover the 19- inch meats in the rear. There's gobs of power thanks to a 6.4-liter, aluminum-block V10 pumping out 605 hp and 501 lb-ft torque. Developed in just five months by the Ford Advanced Product Creation team, with a healthy dose of input from Shelby, the car has already been in track with none other than ol' Shel himself at the controls doing smoky burnouts."

The AutoWeek Design Forum is a day-long event geared to automotive and non-automotive professionals and students. Held in conjunction with the NAIAS, the program features presentations by leading design professionals. The 11th annual Design Forum was sponsored by Johnson Controls, Inc. College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Mich. was a VIP sponsor.

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