2008 Chicago Auto Show Preview
2008 marks the 100th edition of the Chicago Auto Show. Since 1901, Chicago has been home to the largest auto show in the nation, giving us car-loving mid-western corn dwellers something to be proud of.
This year, the show will be featuring over 1,000 vehicles for a full 10 days. If you’re going, admission is $10 for adults, $5 for kids and seniors. The show starts on Friday, Feb. 8th to Sunday, Feb. 17th, and the floor will be open from 10AM to 10PM every day except the last, in which the floor will close at 8PM. One cool display will the special 100th Edition stage featuring some significant cars from the beginning of the 20th Century.
Make sure to head down to the bottom of this article for a full map of the show this year.
We’ve been attending the Chicago Auto Show for quite a few years now, and every year we’re just as excited to go as the last. This year looks pretty promising, although a bit lacking in terms of concept cars. It seems manufacturers are starting to pay closer attention to their budgets, and aren’t going as all-out on concepts as they used to. Regardless, here are a few concept cars on display this year:
Concept Cars
There are a few concepts I’m looking forward to seeing there, such as the Audi R8 V12 TDI - which was shown at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this month. As if the regular R8 wasn’t cool enough, Audi’s gone and added a 6.0L V12 diesel engine creating 500 horsepower and a monstrous 738 lb/ft of torque. The new engine is expected to get the new R8 from 0-62 mph in about 4.2 seconds, and get a whopping 23 mpg! That’s more than I can say for my Maxima.
Dodge will be showing the ZEO Concept electric car, which basically looks like a more muscular Chevy Volt:
The Dodge ZEO (Zero Emissions Operation) is an all-electric, 268 horsepower, rear-wheel-drive 2+2 wagon that gets from 0 to 60 mph in about 6 seconds, and is adorned with all types of the regular “look at me, I’m electric” lights and gizmos that will never come in the production version.
Buick will be showing us a concept mock-up of the Riviera. The stock photos show all of the typical concept stuff, gull-wing doors, LED headlights, crazy curves and sharp edges, space-ship interiors - but it doesn’t matter because the production version will look nothing like this:
I think this is Buick trying to tell us they want to move away from the “only for old people” image they’ve had for years, so they’ll gauge reaction from this concept and possible create a younger looking car a few years down the road.
It’s not just Buick aiming for the young crowd, Chevy will be showing off their trio of hip, small concept cars that seem to be trying to piggyback off of the success of Scion. The Beat, Groove, and Trax will all make an appearance.
Hummer’s attempt at grasping at straws to turn a profit has actually created a pretty attractive concept. The Hummer HX Concept is a two-door off-road convertible created by three young, new designers in the Hummer studio. Not much info has been released on this concept yet.
Last but not least, Jeep will be showing the Renegade Concept. Powered by a lithium-ion battery pack and a 115 horsepower, 1.5-liter, 3-cyclinder BLUETEC diesel engine, this thing looks like a blast to drive.
The Jeep “delivers a 400-mile driving range, and an equivalent petroleum fuel economy of 110-mpg. Dual electric 200 kilowatt (268 horsepower) motors propel the 4×4 system.” This is about as close as you can get to a real Warthog Vehicle from Halo (a video game.)
Of course this brief list of concepts isn’t exhaustive, there are always some surprises from the manufacturers at the show. I’ll be keeping you updated of cars released as it happens.
Stay tuned for a preview of the Debut cars that will be appearing at the Chicago Auto Show.
In the mean time, take a look at the floor map for this year. Not much of a difference between this year and last, so if you’ve been there before at least you know what to expect. Although it looks like my favorite video game, Project Gotham Racing 4 will be making an appearance at booth 4 
(Click on the image for a larger view)
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