nice pics thx!

Thanks for the recap; cant wait to see the 2010 Prius at the Detriot NAIAS.

Wow. Thanks for putting all that work into your pictures for us. It looks like it was an exciting auto show.
With all that green technology, and all the new announcements, I can't help wondering why Toyota is waiting until the Detroit show, a staid, aging auto show in a city without significant public transit, to show its new Prius.

In the interior shot of the Volt, am I seeing a high battery "fence" between the left and right seats? It looks to my eyes like it's camouflaged to look like a convenient console. If it's as high as I think it is, my desire to have one just plunged, but on the other hand it might keep the kids from fighting in the back seat.

Good job! Thanks!

I guess there were no hybrid minivans at the show, eh? Bummer...

I see lots of green-washing...

Great photos!
Thanks!

Thanks Rybold, nice pics and soooooooo green there ! I'm not too sure, but that red Euro Ford looks like a Mondeo, however the Fiesta is also adopting that shape too.

We saw the VENZA at the Georgetown KY plant in October and I wanted to ask the guide,

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???"

It is a nice station wagon, no doubt, but a station wagon, an estate car? I'm sorry but someone has misread the USA market in a terrible way. Maybe it will sell like hot cakes some place else but really!

IMHO, the VENZA will be here for a while and soon enough fade in obscurity. I can't find one thing about it that says, "This is your new car."

Bob Wilson

The Venza looks more like a crossover than a wagon to me. 19 or 20 inch wheels, optional AWD, 8 inches of ground clearance. Kinda like the Nissan Rogue, Dodge Journey, Subaru Forester, Ford Edge / Flex, etc. If Toyota is getting it wrong than everyone is. I see this as the next big craze as SUV's die out.

Edit: A pic for those who haven't seen it.

BTW, I didn't see any photos of the Hybrid Escalade. Did our resident spy fail to spot it, or did GM decide not to show it off?

Let's see, hydrogen cars haven't been able to be produced for under 100's of thousands of dollars. So does that mean a "kit" car will only be a quarter million?

Then there's the issue of converting 'real' energy into hydrogen ... which yields a net loss of at least 200%. How is THAT in any way green? Read "hydrogen hoax" or the great article a few months back in Consumer Reports for more eye opening. Is it any wonder that the industry hasn't gotten anywhere since the 1970's ?

The Volt looked kinda ho-hum and lost in all of that.

I like that Ford Fiesta-looking eurocar.

But I'm disappointed there seems to be such a consensus that 38 city 47 hwy is acceptable and even good. Not good enough!

Really nice to see some bicycles at the auto show!

There is no way I'm buying a natural gas powered car. I put PV on my roof. I didn't do it so I can use more NG from the utility company.

I really, need the economy to recover so I can sell my car and get a 2009. I don't want the newly designed 2010 Prius. I don't care if it has panels and an EV button etc. I can't live with the new interior. I just can't.

Not to nitpick, but the Mitsubishi i EV isn't currently available on the market in Japan. As far as I can tell, (my Japanese is pretty rusty) they are currently working with a number of electric power companies testing variations on the drivetrain and batteries. A commercial version is expected sometime in or after 2009.

Edit: found an English page, pretty much says the same thing.

about i MiEV | MITSUBISHI MOTORS JAPAN

I've been disappointed also to not see any hybrid minivans on the market. I'd think that a Toyota hybrid minivan would be an instant success.

From about half of the automakers, yes. From the other half, the green was real. Good eye, though.

I think you're right. I think it was a Mondeo.

I'm not sure where you got this picture, and if that is in some way the same [production ready] Venza that I saw at the auto show, then the camera that took this pic must have been sitting on the ground. It is not a huge SUV. It's a crossover, built on the Camry chassis. Think of the Audi, Volkswagen, and Volvo cross-country cars. It's like that. I think it's going to sell like hot cakes. Although it isn't as lightweight as a Prius or Corolla, it will definitely get a lot better MPG than an SUV. And I agree with your comment that at least this will get people out of their SUVs. For those that are skeptical, you NEED to see this car in person before you knock it.

I think our resident spy was too captivated by the 550hp CTS-V to notice.
(on second thought, yes, it was there. I didn't consider it to be newsworthy though)

Excellent point. There were numerious companies selling hydrogen conversion kits, so it can't be that expensive. I'm not sure.

The Volt didn't look anywhere near like a production-ready car. Maybe it runs, but it looked like a one of a kind, and nothing near production ready.
I agree with you completely about wanting electric (PV on your house) before NGV, however, we NEED some type of transition to get free from foreign oil, and keep our dollars here at home in North America.

Then it's false advertising on Mitsubishi's part. The announcer on the microphone, over the loud speakers said "it's available for sale in Japan right now, and there are not plans to bring it to the U.S. yet."

It's odd that Toyota chose not to even show the Japanese version of the hybrid Estima at this show. Seems like they're trying to avoid any suggestion of bringing a hybrid minvan to the US market. We can only hope that they have such a plan in their backroom somewhere...