So we went to the 2006 North American International AutoShow last weekend. It kind of sucked because the place was packed, I usually have great luck and the week of the autoshow we get at least one day where we get nailed with snow. This year January has been bouncing between 30 and 50 degrees with not much snow. So everyone decided to go.
Still, I love the autoshow so had to go. Walking through the first thing I noticed is that it was really segmented off this year more than I recall previously. Full wall to ceiling walls between several of the manufacturers. I really didn’t like that as it closed things off and made it more difficult to get around.
I have to say that the overall winner of the show for me was the Dodge Challenger. It was amazingly cool. I would have driven that baby off the floor if I could.
Overall the rest of the show was pretty boring compared to previous years. I was particularly disappointed in the Ford layout. They had a very cool concept truck but Ford usually does but you never see it hit the real world. I used to love Ford vehicles and that is all I would drive, that ended in about 1997 or 1998 when I bought my first Dodge Ram because the F-150’s were ugly. Since then I have had all Dodges and Jeeps. Whoever did the designs for Dodge for the last 10 or so years has been kicking ass. Anyway, I had an affinity for Ford but the only thing they seem to be making now that I like is the Mustang. I loved the Volvos and Mazdas, those looked great. LandRover is ok but the same as it has been for a long time, Jaguar does nothing for me, don’t even talk about Lincoln and Mercury. Ford needs help. Supposedly they have a new way forward, hopefully that will help. They need to make their lines “younger” or else I don’t think they are going to do so well. This isn’t important to me because I want to buy a Ford, it is important because some of my best friends work for Ford.
And my last item work commenting about… the 2007 Jeep Wrangler… You know what, that deserves its own post.