North American International Auto Show

Take a test ride -- inside: 'Green' cars will go for a spin in basement 'forest'

Robert Snell / The Detroit News

It could have been a barren basement.

With Nissan, Mitsubishi, Ferrari and others skipping this month's North American International Auto Show amid the struggling auto industry, organizers were left with a rare amount of vacant exhibition space in Michigan Hall on the lower level of Cobo Center.

Instead, they're filling 70,000 square feet with a track that will let visitors test drive the latest in hybrid, electric and "green" vehicles on a road that winds through a forest-like setting of trees and waterfalls. The track is sponsored by the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

The one-eighth-mile MEDC EcoXperience test track will spotlight innovations from automakers such as Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. and give auto show visitors a chance to drive new vehicles, albeit at slow speeds (10 mph), and while sitting alongside a professional driver or product specialist. The track will be open during the show's public days, Jan. 17-25. The roughly 6,000 automotive journalists covering the show will be allowed to drive themselves during press preview days, starting Sunday and running through Tuesday.

"This will blow your mind," said the show's senior co-chairman, Joe Serra. "It literally looks like you're in a beautiful forest. It's huge. Trees, waterfalls, brick pavers. This course winds its way through it. It's a way to showcase of what (automakers) currently have to offer and what the future holds."

The list of available vehicles is being finalized, but the selection of six to 12 vehicles includes a hydrogen-powered Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell vehicle and other hybrids.

"We selected vehicles that have low emissions or zero emissions," said Richard Plyer, the event's executive producer. There will be portable devices monitoring air quality inside Cobo Center, he added.

The test track can accommodate vehicles ranging in size from compacts to full-size hybrid sport utility vehicles.

The track could serve as a counterpoint to criticism from lawmakers during auto industry bailout hearings last year that automakers, particularly Detroit's Big Three, aren't doing enough to produce fuel-efficient vehicles.

"To be able to prove to the world that research and development is thriving is a clear sign to the public, the Legislature and the world that while the industry is being cost-efficient, it is not willing to mortgage its future by being short-sighted," MEDC Vice President Lisa Dansock said in a statement.

Such test tracks have been offered at rival auto shows, such as the Chicago Auto Show, where Chrysler LLC has provided a track for Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles. More than 64,000 people rode on the test track last year, according to the Chicago show's Web site.

But the Detroit test track will be open to a variety of manufacturers, Serra said.

He said the track wouldn't have been possible had the automakers not pulled out of this year's show.

"We've turned what potentially could have been a negative ... into a positive," Serra said.

Cobo Center has had a shortage of space during the show, and late last month the state Senate passed compromise legislation for a long-sought $288 million expansion that will add 166,000 square feet of exhibit space.

Last year, the lower level housed Chinese automakers, but they have been given space on the main floor this year, thanks to automakers that opted to skip the Detroit show.

You can reach Robert Snell at (313) 222-2028.