The Detroit auto show has come and gone, and has left the automotive industry with a little more to chew over. As a final wrap-up to quite possibly the most important auto show in America, we chose 10 cars that summed up the best of the show. We chose based on significance and looks, which is why you will see Honda’s Insight on the same list as the Fisker Karma. After much deliberating, here are the 10 we think are the best.

10) Volkwagen BlueSport Concept

Starting at the No. 10 spot, the BlueSport made this list because it is an honest effort to make a sporty car by a company whose most engaging vehicle to date is the Golf GT1 (no, the Bugatti Veyron does not count). It’s not the sexiest roadster available, as the Saturn Sky debatably holds that spot (key word: debatably. Check out the comments at the link above, and add your own opinion). While not terribly exciting to the eyes, it does feature that solid, reliable look that has come to define VW’s “German Engineering”. 57 miles to each gallon of diesel just adds to the charm.

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Woo-Hoo! I knew we’d get some fun stuff out of this Fiat/Chrysler deal!

According to reports, Fiat’s 500, a modern updating of the postwar car that saved Fiat financially and got Italy back on the road (as well as starting the Italian version of the baby boom generation, but that’s another story) is coming to America. Supposedly.

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In the above pilfered image, which I grabbed from AutoBlog, they raised an interesting point. It looks like GM & Chrysler will soon be merging into one company, turning The Big three US auto makers into the Big Two.

If that happens, then it would leave GM (who would be in charge) deciding which makes to keep and which to ax. And that could mean bad news for a bunch of interesting cars.

Let’s look at that picture again:

Full size GM pickup vs Dodge Ram? That’s pretty easy: addios Ram.

Hummer vs. Jeep? The Jeep brand is way too iconic and Hummer is bleeding red like an Ebola case. Advantage Jeep.

Camaro vs Challenger. This one-sniff- is just too -sniff- horrible to contemplate … next choice,NEXT CHOICE!!!

Corvette vs. Viper … Dear God, what kid of sadists ARE you, I feel like I’m in a Merrill Streep movie.

Sure, trucks and Jeeps and Hummers are one thing, but now we’re starting to talk about sportscars, or at least NEAR sportscars … that’s too much to ask a guy to choose.

But you know the bean-counters at GM will be choosing … probably using the same logic that drove them to put a Chevette suspension in the first Fieros and look at th Aztek as a viable automotive choice.

Hard times ahead …

Source: AutoBlog

For years, American car buyers have been complaining that the Big 3 car manufacturers were lacking hybrid options, leaving that mostly up to the Japanese car makers like Toyota and Honda. Finally, GM and Ford catch on, offering hybrid models of much of their line-up. The thing about domestic hybrid offerings is that they are simply checkmarks next to an existing model, and most of them are bigger vehicles such as large SUVs as opposed to the tiny cars like the Toyota Prius and Honda Insight. This offers a unique option for Americans that have no choice but to go big, giving them a chance to save on rising fuel costs and not have to get into a space-limiting econo-car.

Chrysler is the last of the three to offer up a gas/electric version of their vehicle in the Chrysler Aspen Hybrid. Just like most of the American hybrids, the only thing letting you know it’s a hybrid is the emblem on the rear liftgate. No “hey look at me I’m a hybrid!” designs here.

Like all full hybrid vehicles, the Chrysler Aspen Hybrid can run in three modes: solely on electric power, gasoline only, or both systems at once. The unique thing about the Aspen Hybrid is the two-mode electric automatic transmission. fitted to the 385 horsepower, 5.7 liter HEMI V8 (yes, a Hybrid Hemi.) This dual-mode transmission operates on two different sets of gears; one for the electric motor and one for the gasoline engine. Changing with the mode of operation, the gear sets act as a sort of continuously-variable transmission, except without the inherent friction problems. Continue Reading…

No, no, no!

Say it ain’t so! This is terrible news!

Dodge is apparently going to begin negotiations for the sale of its “Viper” nameplate. Chrysler has always been the most anemic of the Big Three, and with Ford and GM both hit hard by the economy crisis, I can only imagine what the situation is like at Chrysler’s big brass. Must be hell.

But this is sad, terrible news, even though it was kind of expected. I had always hoped that Chrysler would find a way to keep the Viper alive, maybe as a low volume, limited production a year type of image car. But the financial strain was apparently too great, and now its the Viper that is under the axe.

This is personally rather distressing for me, as the Viper has always held a special spot in my heart (and that of many others). Though the Viper and Corvette have always blood enemies in competition, I hold them both in equal esteem and adoration. To me, they symbolize the epitome of the American muscle car, that is to say, a no frills, rude, obnoxious, rough, aggressive, and above all, powerful car. The Corvette and the Viper aren’t elegant, they aren’t refined, they have absolutely no finesse— instead they’re just dominant, raw, and beastly, and that scares the crap out of everyone else.

To hear that the Viper, an icon of Dodge and of America, is going to be sold… well, my day just got a little less bright. I hear that it might be sold to a tuning company, or a group of investors, whatever it is, I hope that at least in stays in America (if it becomes the Tata Viper I’ll shoot myself). The look might stay the same, the badge and performance might remain, but it will no longer be the Dodge Viper, and that’s a damn shame.

Gentlemen, we have a race … OK, that’s how you start a Gold Cup event, but what the hell, it applies here.

Enough’s enough, as far as I’m concerned … lots of roll outs of electric “cars” that “hopefully” will be seen in prototype form by 2013, half-thought out golf carts calling themselves cars … besides Tesla, everyone is just running press releases up the flag pole and see who salutes.

Dodge plays different though, seems like they got a bunch of new electric cars in the pipeline, and they’ll be out by 2010, but the one that interests me the most is the sportscar version seen here. Based on the upcoming Lotus Europa (or if not in actuality, it sure LOOKS like it is), it seems to be a serious car.

Dodger says the EV sports a lithium-ion battery pack with a 150-200 mile range, and, can sprint from 0-60 in less than 5 seconds.

OK, we’ll see if it lives up to that.

But if this comes to market as promised, heres the scenario I see in the not to distant future:

It’s 2011 and you’re blasting down the coast road, heading out of Pacifica, up and over that hill by Rockaway, just before the surf parking lot you stop at that light, wanting to get up and over and see how your new Dodge EV sportscar handles The Devil’s Slide … when pulling onto the road from the left comes some guy in his Tesla.

Gentlemen, we have a race … not that I would encourage or condone ANYTHING like that.

Source: LeftlaneNews