New wheels grab auto buffs attention

NEW YORK, March 27 (UPI) -- The auto road show circuit raised the curtain Wednesday for a preview of the 102nd New York International Auto Show.

Saturn debuted its 2003 ION sedan and coupe, Chrysler showed a hot new turbo-charged PT Cruiser, Ford presented the Lincoln Aviator SUV and General Motors resurrected the legendary Pontiac GTO muscle car.

GM Vice President Bob Lutz said GM would import up to 20,000 GTOs, nicknamed "goats" by enthusiasts in the 1960s, annually from the Detroit automaker's Austrian division, Holden. The GTO replaces the discontinued Firebird as the sports car in Pontiac's lineup. The final Firebirds and Chevrolet Camaros are scheduled to roll off the assembly line in Canada this summer.

The new GTO will be a 2004 model and feature a monster-sized 5.7-liter V-8 coupled to a six-speed manual transmission from the stylish Holden Monaro.

"It will deliver the kind of performance that made the original GTO legendary," said Lutz.

Chrysler sought to put more zip in the PT Cruiser lineup by adding a PT Turbo with 215 horsepower and new colors and styling cues.

"Just two years ago, we launched the Chrysler PT Cruiser and created a new category of transportation," Larry Lyons, vice president-small vehicle product team engineering told reporters. "Now, we're giving that whole new category a boost -- literally."

The retro-looking PT Turbo gets more than 90 percent of its 245 foot-pounds of torque from its 4-cylinder, 16 valve, 2.4-liter high output engine between 2300 and 5000 rpm.

"We didn't just bolt on a turbo off the shelf and close the hood," said Lyons. "This engine was created as a 200-plus horsepower motor for the PT Turbo from the beginning."

A Getrag heavy-duty 5-speed manual transaxle and 16-inch aluminum wheels are standard and a 4-speed automatic with a manual mode is optional.

Chrysler also took the wraps off the production version of its six-passenger 2004 Pacifica crossover utility vehicle, which creates a car-like "sports tourer" market segment.

The V-6-powered Pacifica will be built at Chrysler's Windsor Assembly Plant in Canada early next year but will not share platforms with Dodge or Chrysler minivans.

The luxurious mid-sized 2003 Lincoln Aviator sport-utility vehicle will arrive in showrooms late this summer to complement the full-sized Lincoln Navigator. The 302-horsepower, V-8 Aviator is based on the popular Ford Explorer and Mercury Mountaineer. Lincoln is introducing four new vehicles in 2002 in an effort to boost falling market share and hopes to sell about 30,000 Aviators a year.

Saturn takes on Honda, Toyota, Hyundai and Kia with the roomy, Euro-styled ION sedan and "quad coupe," its first new small cars in more than a decade, which reach showrooms next year. The polymer-sided ION succeeds the 12-year-old S Series which sold 162,000 units in 2001, down from 290,000 seven years earlier.

"The ION sedan and quad coupe are going to re-energize the small-car arena," said Jill Lajdziak, vice president of Saturn sales, service and marketing. Saturn's L-Series sedan has been updated and Saturn added the new VUE sport-utility vehicle.