Green's been in the air of late, and this year's North American International Auto Show was no exception. While the usual hyped sports cars and solid trucks weren't exactly in short supply, nearly every concept car toed the eco line. Fuel cells, biodiesel and batteries powered most. Ethanol was popular despite continual rumors of a looming corn shortage (probably less of a problem in the "conceptual" realm). Even Hummer promised a FlexFuel system for its HX concept. Of course, none of this means power will be sacrificed.

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For two sunny, 85-degree days this week, hundreds of auto-industry types and journalists crowded into the Los Angeles Convention Center to see the cars of the future. At press conferences, the words "environment," "alternative fuels" and "efficiency" were uttered approximately 7,000 times each. But there was no shortage of gas-guzzling performance cars either. For some highlights, launch the gallery.

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The press previews at the New York International Auto Show ran the gamut from glitzy-see the Mercedes E-Class debut-to downright dirty, as in the mud-soaked reveal of the four-door Jeep Wrangler. Either way, there was plenty of technology on view, as automakers continue to tread the fine line between high performance and high efficiency.
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Sunny Solstice
At the 2002 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, General Motors debuted the Pontiac Solstice concept car, promising an open-air thrill ride on a budget. The 2006 Solstice is on its way, and it looks like the General will deliver on its promise.

The heart of the Solstice is GM’s Kappa platform, which engineers created to develop a family of compact, rear-wheel-drive sports cars that would marry function—power and stability—with form, to create a vehicle that would handle well and please both the beholder and the budget.

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At the 2004 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Mitsubishi showed an audacious concept car that heralded the arrival of the next-generation Eclipse. The Concept E, as it was called, was an all-wheel-drive hybrid with a completely unique powertrain arrangement: a 270hp V6 drove the front wheels, while a 200hp electric motor powered the rear ones. Everyone drooled.

A year later, the automotive press was all set to drool again, but the debut of the production Eclipse left our mouths a bit drier than expected.

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One look at the Jeep Hurricane, unveiled at this year’s North American
International Auto Show in Detroit, and you’ll be rubbing your chin-and then
drooling. It has twin 5.7-liter Hemi V8 engines, one in front of the passenger
compartment and one behind it, and a turning radius of zero. The Hemis´ combined
output amounts to a whopping 670 horsepower and 740 pound-feet of torque;
fortunately, their multi-displacement systems can each shut down four
cylinders-or an entire engine-when less than maximum grunt is required. Two

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Bob Lutz never minces dreams. The 70-year-old ex-BMW, ex-Chrysler, ex-Ford executive and ex-U.S. Marine Corps aviator joined General Motors last September with a no-nonsense, ambitious agenda. His immediate task as the automaker's vice chairman and product czar: to snap the world's largest vehicle manufacturer out of its longstanding, self-inflicted catatonia.

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The automobile has been on the verge of being reinvented practically since it was invented. Cars that would float and fly, cars that would walk, cars that would cruise like bubble-shaped VIP lounges: Surely a brand-new car was right around the corner, or at least a couple of years away. Problem was, the irreducible requirements of engine, transmission, suspension, and fuel tank, and all the mechanical linkages involved (pedal to throttle, driveshaft to wheels), dictated much about not only how a car would function, but how it would look.

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