NAIAS concepts

Though industry sales projections for 2009 were dire, automakers pushed forward with new environmentally friendly technology in concept vehicles with an eye on sportiness.

“People will be happy to buy a smaller car that is better for the environment and more maneuverable in the city, as long as the vehicle has all the attributes they want,” said Peter Horbury, Ford's Executive Director of Design for The Americas.

His rationale accompanied the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) unveiling of the Lincoln Concept C, an innovative glimpse of what a Lincoln designed for metropolitan life and $5/gal fuel prices might be in the not-so-distant future.