The Art of NAIAS

PITSTOP

Muscle is back, and how. Here are three of the most significant machines that made a debut at Detroit. Yup, they are all set to rock-n-roll!

CHEVROLET CORVETTE C6
Worth the 'Vette

As the cliché goes, the new Corvette is leaner and meaner. Unveiled at the Detroit Opera House, the flagship Chevy will be powered by a new 6000cc small block V8 that develops 400 hp and 54 kgm of torque.

It will come with both six-speed manual and five-speed automatic transmissions.

Though the suspension and chassis is from the last generation C5, these have been tweaked for better performance. And compared to the C5, the C6 is five inches shorter and a little narrower.

But it gets 18-inch wheels in front and 19-inchers at the rear. Curious. The classic Corvette look is however maintained, and for the first time since 1962, it has non-retracting headlamps.

FORD SHELBY COBRA
Oh Carroll!

The legendary Carroll Shelby himself unveiled the new iteration of the Shelby Cobra. The new two-seater supercar broadly looks like its famous predecessor, and J Mays has acquitted himself with this awesome-looking machine.

Built by the same guys who developed the Ford GT in record time, the rear-wheel drive Shelby Cobra concept is powered by a 6400cc V10, that produces 605 bhp and 68 kgm of torque.

Ford claims a zero to 96 kph timing of inside four seconds and a top speed of over 310 kph. Bring it on!

CHRYSLER ME FOUR-TWELVE
It's all in the name

Well, we guess the folks at Chrysler felt that since Europe seemed to be getting all the Carrera GTs, SLR-McLarens and R8 Le Mans, it was time the US of A had one of its own. Enter the ME Four-Twelve.

Why the name? Mid-engine, four-turbo, V12 - that's why. The quad-turbo 6000cc V12, developed by AMG, is placed amidships and Chrysler says that the car was designed around the engine. It shows.

The V12 develops 850 bhp and a monstrous, really monstrous, 115 kgm of torque. Expect it to attain 96 kph from standstill in 2.9 seconds and a top speed of over 400 kph. It's so quick that DaimlerChrysler developed it in just one year.