GM Australia tries to get costs down on project Could a Pontiac GTO be next
for Canadians?
Jan. 21, 2006. 01:00 AM
GERRY MALLOY

On the surface, the Dodge Challenger concept car introduced at Detroit might seem like a better bet for production than General Motors' Chevrolet Camaro concept.

The Challenger could be built on Chrysler's rear-wheel-drive LX platform, but GM has no comparable rear-wheel-drive architecture on which to base a new Camaro. Yet.

GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz told Wheels the Camaro could be built if a suitable business case can be made. If it were solely his decision, he said, he would approve it right now.

Asked what platform could accommodate it, he first eliminated the Corvette/XLR space-frame as too expensive, and the Solstice/Sky's Kappa platform as too small. The only feasible candidate, he said, is a new global rear-wheel-drive architecture under development in Australia.

That architecture, then called Zeta, was supposedly dropped from GM's plans a year ago because of high costs. But rather than being terminated, it has apparently been redesigned to become more cost effective.

Developed under the direction of a Canadian engineer, Gene Stefanyshyn, it will make its production debut a year from now in the form of the Australian Holden Commodore, Lutz said. And it will subsequently provide the underpinnings "for a whole array of Asian and American rear-wheel-drive sedans."

Maybe even a Camaro.

A next-generation Pontiac GTO is also a probability.

DON'T ENCOURAGE THEM!

A newspaper and a TV station from Detroit assembled a 100-member panel from their readers and viewers to preview the Detroit auto show and select their choices for a series of awards from the 700-plus vehicles on display. Some of those choices might be considered surprising.

Their selection for the Detroit News/Local 4 "Best in Show" award, for example, was the Chrysler Imperial concept — a design almost universally panned by the automotive media, in spite of the presence of Desperate Housewives' Eva Longoria, to help introduce it. Their other choices:

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Best Family Hauler - Chrysler Town and Country

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Best Value - Toyota Camry sedan

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Curviest - Ford Shelby GT

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Future Fantasy - Chevy Camaro

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Grooviest Wheels - Toyota Scion xB

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Most Awesome - Hummer H1

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Most Earth Friendly - Ford Escape Hybrid SUV

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Most Innovative - Mercedes S500

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Most Luxurious - Rolls-Royce Phantom

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Most Plush Interior - Maybach 57

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Sexiest - Jaguar XK

Wheels' readers, we're sure, would be much more discerning.

A COLT FOR CHRYSLER?

During a December interview in Toronto with DaimlerChrysler Canada's new president and CEO Steven Landry, he indicated that he would like to have a car smaller than the new Dodge Caliber in the lineup, to compete with the likes of Toyota's Yaris, GM's Aveo/Wave and Honda's just-announced Fit.

During an exclusive interview with Landry and his boss, Chrysler Group president and CEO Tom LaSorda, at the Detroit auto show, LaSorda concurred, but stated definitively that Chrysler would not develop its own subcompact.

Mitsubishi, too, has expressed an interest in that part of the market, and is said to be considering reintroduction of its sub-compact Colt to North America. It is already sold in Asia and Europe.

Mitsubishi Canada president Paul Cummings has even suggested that Canada might go it alone with the Colt if the U.S. decides against it.

Putting two and two together and coming up with five, I then asked Landry and LaSorda if Chrysler might consider purchasing Colts from Mitsubishi and rebadging them, as it did a couple decades ago. After all, the two are still involved with each other in both platform and engine development programs.

LaSorda was firm in stating that he was not involved in any discussions of that nature with Mitsubishi. Then he added, "That is not to say that somebody else might not be."

I'll take that as a definite maybe.

DESIGNERS HONOUR OWN

A panel that included many of the world's top automobile designers has chosen three vehicles from the hundreds on display at this year's North American International Auto Show in Motown as recipients of their annual Eyes On Design Awards.

Their choices:

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Chevrolet Camaro concept, for concept implementation;

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Mazda Kabura, for aesthetics and innovation;

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Ferrari FXX, for functionality.

The show runs today until 10 p.m. and closes tomorrow. See details in Autodate.

KIDS SAID NO SAFER IN SUVS

Children riding in SUVs have similar injury risks to those in passenger cars, research from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia indicates.

Previous research by the hospital had suggested that larger, heavier vehicles are generally safer.

But the study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that an SUV's increased risk of rollover during a crash offsets the inherent safety benefits associated with size and mass.

The study looked at crashes reported to State Farm Insurance Companies involving 3,933 child occupants up to 15 years old who were in 1998 or newer sport utilities or cars.

It found that rollovers occurred twice as frequently in SUVs, and children involved in rollover crashes were three times more likely to be injured than those in non-rollover crashes.

The report did not conclude that SUVs are more dangerous to youngsters on an overall basis, but neither did it suggest that they are safer.

"People who use an SUV as their family vehicle should know that SUVs do not provide superior protection for child occupants," said Dr. Dennis Durbin, who co-authored the study.

He added: "Age- and size-appropriate restraints and rear seating for children under 13 years are critically important because of the increased risk of a rollover crash."

Significant improvements have been made in SUVs to reduce their risk of rollover.

mgmalloy@aol.com

wheels@thestar.ca