Field guide to the vehicles of the 2005 NAIAS

Automotive Design & Production, March, 2005 by Gary S. Vasilash, Christopher A. Sawyer

Name: 2006 Ford Fusion

Type: Four-door FWD sedan

Reason For Being: To fill the niche between the Five Hundred on the larger side and Focus on the smaller. If there is a "Taurus replacement," this is it.

Engineering Aspects: "Before we ever built a Fusion in the factory"--and the factory that the car is being built at is Ford's Hermosillo Stamping & Assembly Plant in Mexico--"we already had built the car in a virtual factory and discovered ways to do it better," according to Phil Martens, Ford group vp, Product Creation. It is said to be the first Ford car completely digitally designed, engineered and manufactured (prior to actually making it). It's based on the CD3 architecture, a.k.a., the Mazda6 platform (which will eventually serve as the basis for as many as 800,000 vehicles). They've made structural adjustments to the base architecture, as the car is 30 mm wider and 55 mm longer than the base. The torisional stiffness is increased by 12.7%, thanks mainly to the use of advanced high-strength dual-phase steel for the rocker panels and a tailor welded B-pillar with thicker high-strength steel above the beltline and thinner-gage lower tensile strength steel below.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Also Know This: The design of the Fusion is loosely based on the Ford 427 concept car introduced at the 2003 North American International Auto Show. The 427 referenced the displacement of the 427 engine used in Ford cars of the '60s (and the V10 under its hood). The Fusion is available with two engines: a 2.3-liter 14 and a 3.0-liter V6. That would be translated to 140 in.[.sup.3] and 183 in.[.sup.3], respectively. (The 427, metrically speaking, would be 7 liters.) The 427 concept has a grille consisting of three horizontal bars. So does the Fusion. Also, the headlamps have a similar appearance. The term used to describe the squarish shape with rounded corners is a "squircle." Look for more squircles on more Fords.

Name: Corvette Z06

Type: Street-legal race car

Reason for Being: Because GM has never had a faster, more powerful car. Consider: a 500-hp 427-in.[.sup.3] engine powering a 3,130-lb. car. This means 0 to 60 mph in <4 seconds.

Engineering Aspects: A tour de Force of materials makes this exceedingly light. For example, while carbon fiber composites were used for the hood of the '04 Commemorative Edition Z06, this time they've engineered the Front Fenders and wheelhouses with the material. The body structure is aluminum. The wheels are cast-spun aluminum. There are hydroformed perimeter rails with cast suspension nodes rather than steel weldments found on more pedestrian 'Vettes. There is a magnesium cradle that not only attaches to the engine, but is used for some front suspension components, as well. About the engine, the hand-built L57. It provides 500 hp @ 6,200 rpm and 475 lb-ft of torque @ 4,800 rpm. There are titanium con rods, intake valves, pushrods, and valve springs; a forged steel crankshaft; forged steel main bearing caps; and forged; aluminum flat-top pistons.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Also Know This: Speaking of the aforementioned use of aluminum in the structure, Dave Hill, Corvette chief engineer observes, "This is an instance where the street car uses more advanced material than the race car. We're constrained by rules to run the steel frame in the race cars, but we stretched to bring even more performance technology to the street for our customers." Of course, the street drives are constrained by speed limits.

Name: Mercury Meta One Concept

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Vehicle Type: Crossover vehicle

Reason for Being: To show off science, and, ultimately, when fully productionized, to help meet the division's goal of selling 500,000 vehicles--200,000 more than today--by the end of the decade.

Engineering Aspects: Although this is a "concept," Ford has announced that production for a crossover vehicle for Mercury will commence in 2007. This production will occur in the Chicago Assembly Plant, where the Ford Freestyle, the platform mate (both on the 03 platform) of the Meta One, is produced. While "concepts" are often stretch-type exercises, the production-intent nature of this can be discerned from the following list of companies that worked with Ford's Advanced Design Studio, Ford Research and Advanced Engineering, Ford Brand Imaging, Lincoln Mercury Marketing on developing the Meta One:

Borg Warner Transmission  Launch and Disconnect Clutch Module
  Systems                 (www.bwauto.com)
Bosch                     Brake System for Active Safety
                          (www.boschusa.com)
Corning                   Ceramic substrates for catalysts
                          (www.corning.com)
Delphi Delco Electronics  Camera and Radar for CMbB
  Systems                 (www.delphi.com)
Emitec                    Metallic substrates for catalysts
                          (www.emitec.com)
Engelhard Corporation     SCR Catalyst and DPF wash coats
                          (www.engelhard.com)
The Gates Corporation     Front End Accessory Drive (www.gates.com)
GKN Automotive            Halfshafts and Intermediate Shaft
                          (www.gknplc.com)
Harman/Becker             Sound System amp and speakers
                          (www.becker.de)
Ibiden                    DPF Silicon Carbide Substrates
                          (www.ibiden.co.jp/eng)
In-Seat Solutions, LLC    Haptic Seat Actuators
                          (http://relaxor.com/index.htm)
ITW Global PDC            Capless fuel system SAFF
                          (www.itwautomotive.com)
Johnson Matthey           DOC catalyst wash coat (www.matthey.com)
McCleer Power, Inc.       Prototype Electric Machine
                          (www.mccleerpower.com)
NGK-Locke                 NOx Sensors (www.ngk-locke.com)
Roush Industries, Inc.    Powerpack Vehicle Build (www.roushind.com)
Siemens Controls          Powerpack controls (www.siemens.com)
SSV                       Concept Vehicle Build (www.saleen.com)
Stoneridge                RTD Sensors (www.stoneridge.com)
TOK                       DC/DC Converter (www.component.tdk.com)
Tenneco Automotive        Aftertreatment system integrator
                          (www.tenneco-automotive.com)
Visteon                   Air Intake (www.visteon.com)
Yazaki                    High voltage wiring (www.yazaki-na.com)