DETROIT, Michigan, Jan 16, (Agencies): Design has taken center stage at the Detroit auto show like it hasn’t in years, with automakers offering dazzling makeovers and concept cars aimed at renewing their brands as markets rebound.
From the humble Smart to supercars, automakers are offering more visually interesting products than ever in recent years, raising their game against increasingly tough competition and cutting the boring quotient.
It was evident in Chrysler’s revival of the clunky 1970s Dodge Dart in a small slingback entry-level car that will please young people hoping for a little sporty pizzazz from the company’s Italian owner Fiat.
And it was evident in the remakes in the luxury class, like Mercedes-Benz’s six-decade-old SL, where formidable curves and brawn come together in a hefty all-aluminum convertible.
“The big theme for the show is styling,” Jeremy Anwyl, head of auto industry experts Edmunds.com, told AFP.

Styling
Styling is a way to differentiate a product “when cars can no longer set themselves apart by safety features or performance or fuel efficiency.
“You’re seeing styling in segments where it wouldn’t have been a big deal before. You go back a few years ago, compact cars were pretty boring because the idea was people bought it as an appliance — it’s cheap.”
Now, he said, auto makers want their products to stand out in a crowded field.
Ford has achieved this by sexing up its middle-market mainstay the Fusion with Euro-styling designed right at the firm’s home in Dearborn, Michigan.
Formerly almost indistinguishable from others in its class — including the best-selling Camry — the Fusion now wears some BMW-like touches, no surprise since Ford vice president of design J. Mays has done stints designing for BMW, Audi and Volkswagen.
“What we wanted was a car that looked visually like a premium car,” he said.
Twenty-seven new cars were introduced in Detroit, some of them more changed inside than out, like Volkswagen’s Jetta with a hybrid engine.
BMW laid out its new 3 Series range, with inches added on in front and back, and sleek design changes to the lights, kidney-grills, and other frills.

Curves
Porsche meanwhile unveiled the cabriolet version of its new Carrera (the coupe was launched late last year), which, while unmistakably a member of the venerable 911 family, also came with some aggressive new curves, a wider front and a longer body.
Volkswagen took a different approach to its concept car, the electric E-Bugster, by taking out the Beetle’s cuteness, mashing down the top and fattening the sides to give it the stoutness of an American muscle car — almost.
Audi meanwhile shrunk its crossover Q5 into the Q3 compact.
Not to be outdone by their German rivals — who topped the US luxury market last year — Lexus and Acura both introduced racy new concept cars.
Acura’s is a svelte concept revival of the NSX, while Lexus has designed a hybrid sport coup, the LF-LC, with curves that look like they were painted on in one brush swipe.
While some were trying to get into the small-car niche, diminutive Scion and Smart headed in the other direction, aiming to redefine themselves in a bigger form.
Scion, Toyota’s quirky youth market brand, introduced its hungry-looking FR-S sportscar, with one outfitted for professional drift racing. Scion said it had recruited Japanese start Ken Gushi to drive it in Formula Drift events.

DNA
Scion vice president Jack Hollis insisted the FR-S had the same DNA as the original boxy xB. It looked more like a Toyota 2000 GT, but at any rate it was likely to catch the eyes of Scion lovers graduating from the earlier models.
Smart meanwhile had a bug-like rock-hopper concept car, the Smart-for-Us, that might have come out of Pixar’s “Cars”.
It too had little similarity with its urban-life parent, appearing better suited for the beach or the desert. While still small, it dwarfed the original Smart, but it also gave shoppers another reason to look at the carmaker.
Smart, a division of Germany’s Daimler AG, said the concept vehicle is so small that it could fit in the bed of a traditional pickup and be barely noticed. At the same time, it provides enough room for two people to sit comfortably. The truck’s cargo bed hold spaces to charge the front wheels of two electric bicycles.
The electrically powered concept truck combines the fun and freedom of a pickup with the practicality and ecofriendly aspects of an economy car, Smart Chief Executive Annette Winkler told reporters at the North American International Auto Show.

Here are the highlights of the car:
Power: Its lithium-ion battery can be fully charged in less than eight hours. It has a 55-kilowatt magneto-electric motor.
Size: The truck is 139.6 inches (3.5 meters) long, nearly three feet (90 centimeters) longer than Smart’s traditional “fortwo” car.
Speed: With 96-pound-feet of torque, the “for-us” can go up to 80 mph (130 kph).
Looks: Its interior is mother-of-pearl white and brushed aluminum, with bright yellow seat covers. Instead of a traditional rear-view mirror, a video camera shows the space behind the car on a smart phone mounted above the dash. The truck features Michelin off-road tires mounted on three-spoke wheels with fold-out wing nuts.
Cheers: The truck’s small size would make it easy to park, especially for city dwellers forced to hunt for street parking daily.
Jeers: Did I mention that this truck is really small? In America, Smart has struggled to sell its tiny cars, which must share the road with much larger vehicles. It’s unclear if a truck this tiny has a chance of catching on.

Sedan
Meanwhile, Honda Motor Co offered a peek at what the 2013 Accord midsize sedan will look like when it goes on sale in the fall.
The automaker unveiled the Accord Coupe Concept, a two-door version of a car that John Mendel, executive vice president of sales for American Honda, said will help the company bounce back from a difficult 2011, when the earthquake in Japan and flooding in Thailand disrupted production.
The Ford Fusion topped the Accord and competitors including the Hyundai Sonata last year in the US, though Toyota’s Camry remained the best-seller among midsize sedans. Ford Motor Co. a day earlier at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit unveiled its redesigned Fusion, which also goes on sale in the fall.
Last year, Honda brand sales in the US fell 7 percent to about 1.02 million. This year, the automaker aims to sell about 1.25 million vehicles in the US Honda’s North American plants got back to normal production in November, but the company still is working to restore full production in Asia.
“They temporarily picked up a lap or two while we were in the pits,” Mendel said.
The Accord will be offered with new safety features such as Honda’s LaneWatch blind-spot display, which uses a camera system mounted on the passenger mirror.
The car will go on sale around the time Honda marks 30 years of Accord production in the US The first Accord sedan to roll off the line in Marysville, Ohio, on Nov 1, 1982 – on loan from Henry Ford Museum near Detroit – was displayed at the show alongside the Coupe Concept.

Here’s what’s new:
Power: The Accord will feature three new powertrains, including a 2.4-liter engine promising 181 horsepower, and a plug-in hybrid version. The six-cylinder version of the car will be the first Honda sedan to feature a new 6-speed automatic transmission.
Mileage: Details weren’t released, but Honda says the Accord sedan and coupe are expected to get class-leading fuel economy. The plug-in hybrid version will allow drivers to go about 10 to 15 miles (16 to 24 kilometers) in the city on battery power alone.
Looks: The concept version on display is sleeker than the current version. The front bumper is highlighted by a revised honeycomb grille and deeply set headlights. The concept version is displayed with 20-inch (50-centimeter), five-spoke wheels, a trunk lid spoiler and large exhausts integrated into the bumper.
Cheers: Despite the exterior changes, the interior space is expected to remain about the same. The Accord is known for safety, and drivers can expect updated features to be available, such as warning systems to detect potential collisions and notify that the car is drifting from its lane.
Jeers: The new Accord will face tough scrutiny among midsize car buyers, especially with the updated Fusion going on sale as well as Toyota’s mainstay Camry.