Missouri Gov. Nixon to attend Detroit auto show

The North American International Auto Show begins Monday in Detroit, but auto makers are already showing off some of their newest vehicles.

What is the future of electric cars?

“Luxury has benefited tremendously from the current environment”, said Akshay Anand, an analyst for Kelley Blue Book. “It’s still the most cost-effective way to move people around”. Okay then. That 1980s Mercedes has never looked more appealing. “It’s going to be very volatile”, she said. In many parts of the US, gasoline is less than $2 a gallon.

FILE – In this Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, file photo, Raj Nair, Ford Motor Co., executive vice president, talks about the Ford Fusion hybrid at the North American International Auto Show, in Detroit. Both have a new 1.4-Liter four-cylinder engine with stop-start technology that can get up to 40 mpg on the highway. They had stiff ride quality, tippy handling, poor fuel efficiency and minimal feature content. But “over the past 20 years each of these issues has been addressed by advances in engineering and technology”.

For those who like the status quo in the auto industry, these can be unsettling times.

The transition, though, has been far from ideal. “Plants were closing. Hundreds of thousands of workers were getting laid off … another one million Americans would have lost their jobs”, he said. “I’ve driven this auto many times in development, and I come out of it every time with a big smile on my face, so I can tell you it’s going to appeal to American buyers”, said Roberston. Michael Horn, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, said sales of the Tiguan increased by 43 percent from 2014 to 2015.

Another technology helping gas engines is turbocharging, in which more air is forced into the engine when needed. “You just have to manage it differently”, Jackson said. Honeywell predicts that share will reach 39 percent by 2020.

Fields also said he looks at trends like autonomous vehicles and car-sharing as opportunities, not threats. The RC is also coupe, but Lexus is says the LC would be more in the grand touring style.

Automakers are also using lightweight materials to improve fuel economy. Ford put its focus on the F-150 Raptor and Fusion. The h-tron quattro concept at the Detroit auto show is envisioned as a zero-emissions vehicle with power from electric motors in the front and rear. They’ll weigh about 200 pounds less than the previous version.

“Numbers are up for automakers”, Caudill said. Now, GM has to decide whether to build it. The worlds of tech and automotive are colliding fast and the result is faster innovation in cars than has ever been seen before. Even so, highly fuel-efficient and electric-powered vehicles are still a dominant presence on the show floor because, according to Caudill, manufacturers have little choice. This is just the kind of Buick that could possibly appeal to the younger crowd – it even comes with the same underpinnings as the Chevrolet Camaro – but at the moment, it’s still a concept auto that Buick says is styling practice for future production models.

While the demonstration is one of the more fun quirks at the auto show, it tackles a serious subject and effectively demonstrates how hard it is to properly function while highly intoxicated.