Vehicle history expert Cartell.ie reports on the first major autoshow of the year: the Detroit Auto Show. This is the big show for North American manufacturers. Many of our readers will know the new vehicle market in the USA is booming at the moment. 2015 saw the most new vehicle sales – all time – at 17.47 million light-duty units sold. 11 brands posted all-time records for that market including Honda (1,409,386), Nissan (1,351,420) and Jeep (865,028). The others were Audi, BMW, Hyundai (761,710), Land Rover, Kia (625,818), Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Subaru.

So, off the back of these staggering numbers, what is Detroit pushing to market this year? So far, the news from the show (which opened today) revolves around hydrogen fuel. We are all aware of alternative-energy vehicles, and Cartell has posted often about the various moves towards electric vehicles. Hydrogen has long been touted as an alternative fuel but concerns persist as to its safety.The news from Detroit is the launch of the Audi h-tron quattro – a hydrogen SUV that runs on hydrogen alone with a fuel cell powertrain. The company says it’ll run around 372 miles on a single tank of hydrogen and sprint to 62 mph in under 7 seconds. This is just a concept vehicle but it’s significant because it shows the industry is moving more-and-more in the direction of hydrogen-power.

As you can see, the h-tron is an SUV and it’s no accident Audi have unveiled this machine in Detroit: in 2015 the US market preferred SUVs, and crossovers over normal cars, 57 to 43 percent and Crossovers took 30 percent of the market, followed by 17 percent for both small and mid-size cars. Small SUVs and crossovers are now America’s favourite and this was flagged early in 2015.

As well as new vehicles Ford has announced a new FordPass programme. FordPass members will be able to book parking spots in cities and airports, schedule Ford vehicle maintenance, speak directly with guides, and find out more about Ford products and services. This announcement by Ford is one of several similar developments (e.g. “dynamic shuttles“) by the car-maker which is transforming it from a traditional automaker into a more modernized mobility company.