Detroit Three Embrace a Future With (Some) Promise

(MoneyWatch)  Even in a post-bankruptcy haze, there are bright spots in Detroit if one looks hard enough. But first the inevitable bad news.

Chrysler seems intent on the same old thing, with its backing of the new Jeep Cherokee, which last year endured a 39 percent dip in sales and this year is off almost 50 percent. The vehicle has been plagued by the same quality issues that have dogged Jeep for years. Is it a smart business move to be so intent on keeping it alive?

Chrysler at one point debated dropping the Dodge Durango altogether as recently as 2006, when SUV sales began to tank. Sales were off 36 percent in 2007, a boom year for the auto industry with 16.1 million sales. Now, the brand is touting a brand new Durango amidst an industry embrace of all things small.

But on the Fiat side, we're told that the tiny 500 sedan will come to the U.S. market sometime in 2011, although it will probably look a little different than the model sold overseas. If the 500 could be produced with better quality and uphold the sporty little Mini-esque look, this would indeed give Chrysler a welcome new look. And Fiat will have hit the market with a bang, which it sorely needs to do.

General Motors' 2010 model line looks good, with the mix of trucks and cars actually giving it a new feel, with six redesigned cars and crossovers.

The two Cadillac entries, the SRX crossover and the CTS Sport Wagon, are smart luxury entries in a category that will garner interest moving forward as all automakers look to the smaller versions of the traditional SUV.

Ford stands alone as the Detroit brand that refused the government's generous assistance. Right off, the retooled Taurus sedan is a genuine stab at reclaiming the sedan's heyday of the 80s. The Taurus SHO has everyone at Ford's HQ high-fiving. And folks are prepared to like it, even the often-cranky Car Connection.

Ford has already made it through the rough spots and emerged as successful in relative terms; through May, sales for the Ford group were off 38.1 percent, compared to Toyota's 39 percent dip. And that says plenty today, when the trend is to believe that Asian carmakers have it all over Detroit.

Ford Taurus SHO image by Flickr user geognerd, CC 2.0