Hyundai Veloster and Volkswagen Jetta at Detroit Auto Show. Auto shows spotlight the fanciful and dream cars that represent designer’s flight of fancy. Or they can be the autos that people actually get and start to drive.
This year’s North American International Auto Show has plenty of both, but the focus is on new versions of more popular cars of the nation.
No doubt “popular” is a relative term right now as concerned with the market for cars versus SUVs or pickups. Car sales were down up to 10.9% last year while sales of SUVs and pickups combined rose up to 4.3%.
With low gas prices, SUV and truck sales are now edging toward two out of every three vehicles being sold. Still, cars are not disappearing. And automakers are not giving up on the car nameplates they have worked so hard to establish.
“What we have here are the meat-and-potatoes — the cars that are actually driven,” about the auto show, says Jake Fisher, director of auto testing for Consumer Reports magazine, adding that “There are just real vehicles.”
Must Read: In Stanford Reading Test humans get beaten by Alibaba Neural Network
Hyundai Veloster
Hyundai has shown an updated Veloster, it is small, fun sporty car that kept its same basic looks making it a little bit lower, with the front roof pillars farther back and more prominent fenders and with wheel arches for an overall tougher look.
It also could not miss its signature feature: a big, wide left side door for the driver and two smaller ones on the right.
The new one would come to showrooms later this year.
Veloster’s grille has gained a new design, a criss-cross design that is somewhat akin to chicken wire.
The new Veloster would be available in 2 different engines. One is a 4-cylinder, 2-liter motor that is good for 147 horsepower. The other one is a 4-cylinder, 1.6-liter turbocharged engine, that would be spitting out 201 horsepower.
The car represents an even more compelling offering for the young and young-at-heart automotive enthusiasts, according to Mike O’Brien, vice president of planning for Hyundai Motor America.
Volkswagen Jetta
Volkswagen has introduced a redesigned Jetta to renew interest in the compact.
Despite the several changes, the new Jetta is born into the world that is facing an uphill battle. Although it managed to remain VW’s best-selling model in 2017, sales tumbled 4.4 percent to 115,808 vehicles as Americans rapidly ditched small cars that favor crossovers and SUVs.
Unlike many of new vehicles of today (which fetched an average transaction price of $35,126 last year, according to Cox Automotive) the Jetta had been priced to sell.
Jetta carries a starting price of $18,545, or $100 less than the previously sold model.
Designers gave this model a coupe-like exterior with a quickly sloping roofline. The new model has a 1.4-ltr engine with 147 horsepower & 6-speed manual or 8-speed automatic transmission.
It is slightly longer, wider and taller than its predecessor vehicles.
