2005 North American Auto Show - Detroit

Snow and automotive journalists alike flurried around Detroit at the North American Auto Show. During the elaborate event, concepts are either greeted or dismissed, and the futures of designs are decided by the public's responses. At this year's show, the big thing, unfortunately, was five-door wagons called sport crossover vehicles. They've been named this by manufacturers pushing the hatch-equipped vehicles, but no one was duped and no one was impressed. Several awesome manufacturer's concepts were unveiled as production trucks that had been given a once-over. Such releases included the Hummer H3, Mitsubishi Raider truck, GMC Sierra hybrid, and Ford Sport Trac. Providing a great impact to the show, Jeep shared with the press the new Hurricane and Gladiator concepts. Hopefully, with such a great response, Jeep will build the Gladiator with styling cues from the heavy-duty trucks of the '40s, rugged Jeep capability, and Hummer-like body proportions. Retro-styling is in. Jump on the bandwagon and show us what you got. Next year should prove to be even more exciting, with manufacturers creating exciting new entries in the truck segment.