High-tech hot wheels: 2003's concept cars

Perhaps the most anticipated debut here, though, was the new Mustang, even though it won't hit the road until 2005. The Chevy SS, for its part, remains strictly a concept vehicle that may not see production in its current form. In the move toward sheer brawn, Ford is also building a car called the 427, a husky looking family sedan with a 590-horsepower V-10 engine. When not being used to spirit kids to soccer practice, it may be able to tow barges on the Hudson.

"It's a car that you won't want to put in your garage," says Mr. Mays, "so you neighbors can drool over it."

Bob Lutz, General Motor's product czar, sums up the new class of muscle vehicles this way: "Most customers love a car with a feel of power, of acceleration, and with a powerful look to it."

When Mr. Lutz speaks, many here listen. Known for turning around Chrysler products in the early 1990s, he is considered Detroit's quintessential "car guy" - a master at fusing engineering, design, and manufacturing. This year Lutz tried to transform GM's past auto lineup - what he called the company's "angry kitchen appliances" - into rolling sculptures.

For the past year, all eyes have been on Lutz to see if he could reinvent the look of a company not recently known for design innovation. Some early reviews are favorable.

"I need one," says Betty Lou McClanahan, head of the Car Research Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, of Lutz's new designs.

Still, Lutz's mythology only extends so far. Environmentalists accuse him of launching the SUV phenomenon, and thus degrading the planet and indirectly precipitating - or at least raising the stakes of - war in the Middle East.

While touting the benefits of GM's cylinder cutout technology, which improves fuel economy by about 10 percent, he denies environmentalists' claims that 30 percent gains are feasible. Technically they are, but economically, such cars would cost $100,000, he says. Leading environmentalists dispute that claim.

But buyers looking for cleaner, greener cars aren't left out here either. Carmakers are scrambling to earn credits toward California's zero-emission vehicle mandate by introducing hybrid electric vehicles.

GM announced a plan to introduce at least five new hybrid electric cars - from big pickup trucks to economy cars - in the next five years. Toyota announced a second hybrid electric vehicle going into production this year - this time in the small Highlander sport utility vehicle.

Other automakers are going farther. Honda and Mercedes-Benz each showed fuel cell vehicles. The Honda will be sold to fleets next year. And while it won't please clean-air mavens, Jeep announced it will sell a diesel-powered Liberty SUV here starting next year, that gets 10 percent better fuel mileage. For some, that's a little too retro.

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