Detroit: Among the massive number of debuts were some truly outstanding vehicles ranging from Ford’s amazing and surprising GT hypercar to Acura’s NSX.
Ford is pushing innovation in a big way, with performance models a key part of its plan. To top its lineup, the Blue Oval revealed its all-new GT supercar, which for months has been both the best- and worst-kept secret of the 2015 Detroit auto show.
The Ford GT includes a new 3.5-liter twin-turbo EcoBoost V6 producing “more than 600 horsepower,†channelled to the rear wheels through a seven-speed twin-clutch gearbox. The most powerful-ever production EcoBoost features an all-new, port/direct dual fuel-injection setup to improve engine response, plus a low-friction roller-finger-follower valve train. It’s essentially a road version of the Daytona Prototype racing engine.
Like other top-flight exotics, the GT – which goes into production in late 2015 for arrival in 2016 – uses a carbon fiber monocoque passenger cell with aluminium front and rear subframes, as well as carbon fiber body panels.
The GT’s suspension setup includes an active racing-style torsion bar and pushrod architecture, with adjustable ride height. Twenty-inch wheels carry bespoke Michelin Pilot Super Sport Cup 2 tires, with rubber compound and structure designed specifically for the GT. Brembo carbon-ceramic brake discs are standard, naturally.
Meanwhile, the sweet new 2016 Acura NSX also rolled out sporting 550-plus-hp, all-wheel-drive, torque-vectoring awesomeness before rumours swirled about even burlier versions.
Exactly one quarter-century has passed since an upstart Japanese luxury car brand named Acura introduced an ambitious mid-engine sports car called the NSX.
The car’s exterior details have been refined and refined some more, resulting in a car that looks finished, sophisticated, yet even more extreme.
The visual drama continues inside. The low dashboard features exposed aluminium structural components covered by padded, black-and-red-stitched leather panels. A TFT instrument cluster is nestled behind a highly sculpted steering wheel with flattened upper and lower sections.
Acura is very proud of one particular feature of the new NSX – the thin windshield pillars, which are meant to facilitate a panoramic view of the road ahead, contributing an impression of lightness.
With hybrid power going to the back wheels and pure electric power up front, the NSX features a so-called “Sport Hybrid Super-Handling All-Wheel Drive†system, much like that in the RLX hybrid.