Day 1 of the 2013 North American International Auto Show is over, and there’s far too much sheet metal for one man to cover. Rather than cover everything at once, I’m just going to cover the big reveals of the day that you wanted to see, according to our Facebook page. So, here’s what made the top of the list, in alphabetical order.
Audi SQ5
BMW, Mercedes, and Porsche all have high-performance variants of their SUVs. Audi falls in line with the new SQ5. Featuring an uprated version of the 3.0T found in the S4/S5, the SQ5 should be something special.
Audi RS7
There’s super sedans and then there’s super sedans. Audi’s new RS7 falls into the later category. It’s 560hp V8 will hurtle up to 4 victims to 60mph in 3.7 seconds and onwards to a maximum speed of 190mph. The A7, like the one we drove last year, is a damn good looking car. It gained more sporting appeal with the release of the S7. Now though, the RS7 looks downright menacing.
BMW Concept: 4 Series
BMW has played with its brand nomenclature a bit. The 4 Series will replace the outgoing 3 Series coupe, putting the smaller platform in line with the 5 Series/6 Series. We know almost everything about the 4 Series because it is so closely related to the 3 Series we drove earlier. This concept is nearly production ready.
Chevrolet Corvette Stingray
It’s been spied, teased, leaked, pre-revealed, and finally now revealed. This is the C7 Corvette. With 450hp and 450ft-lbs of torque being pushed from a direct-injection V8, the new Corvette is sure to please. It gets all sorts of new goodies like a rev-matching 7-speed manual gear box, active hood vents, and optional competition sport seats. It also gets an old-school nameplate: Stingray. Originally tied to the C2 Corvette from the 60’s, the Stingray moniker is sure to make Vette enthusiasts nostalgic.
Infiniti Q50
All 2014 Infinitis will be brought to you by the letter “Q”. This raised quite a few eyebrows in the industry. No matter what they call the replacement for the outgoing G-series, it will undoubtedly be a solid competitor in the sport sedan market. The new Q50 looks like a smaller and trimmer M-series (soon to be Q70).
Porsche Cayman
The new Porsche Boxster has been around for a year. That’s been enough time for the engineers to put the roof back on. The last time they tried this, they created one of the best handling cars in the world, the first generation Cayman. The second generation promises to get the same improvements as the new Boxster, and then some.
–Christopher Little
Want more? Here’s the full gallery for each of the reveals.
Categories: Car Shows, Christopher Little, Debuts
Limited Slip Blog 
good writeup, hopefully i’ll be seeing most of these at the Canadian Auto Show in Toronto next month!
Nice coverage, I just discovered your blog. I attended the show this year, too, and it was a good one. The Infiniti naming shakeup also struck me as unusual. I’m assuming you had press passes, given the date posted?
Thanks. It was the first time I’d ever been to the Detroit show, and it didn’t disappoint. I did have a press pass for the show. We’ll also be covering the New York show on press days at the end of this month.
Cool. I may also be in NY for the show, not sure when, though. I might be going to the BMW Q&A. I have a blog as well, linked in my nametag (it’s a two man show) but we don’t have press passes yet. Trying to figure out the best way to get them-any advice? Feel free to respond via email. Thanks.