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Why the 2015 Detroit Auto Show will be the best since The Crisis

The Detroit Auto Show clearly has its swagger back, and the 2015 edition will be a veritable feast for the enthusiast senses. We're talking serious performance, and it will be exhibited in a variety of forms. Sports cars. Supercars. Muscle-bound luxury cars. They're all set for splashy debuts in January in the Motor City. It's another signpost that companies have recovered from the global economic crisis that gripped the industry from 2008-09. For a while, automakers played it safe at Detroit and other shows. Environmentally friendly cars were important, especially for General Motors and Chrysler that were living on loans from Uncle Sam. Ford, Toyota and other companies generally focused on their best-selling or core models. With a few notable exceptions, recent auto shows have been a bit more buttoned-down than in the past. Boring probably isn't the right word, but austerity has been reality. That's changing. Car companies are making money. Sales are up. Aside from the many nagging recalls – and they are notable – the industry now has the time and energy to make performance cars a priority. That will be offered in hard evidence in Detroit. A year from now when we look back at this auto show, we'll sum it up with one word: Horsepower. But make no mistake, this isn't frivolous. Sports and luxury cars are expensive. They're profitable. They boost images and highlight strengths. With that in mind, here are five significant performance-oriented reveals to watch for when the show kicks off in less than two weeks. 2016 Acura NSX Acura's reborn NSX is a strong bet to earn plenty of votes for our Editors' Choice awards. It's one of the most anticipated – and strung-out – reveals of the year. Think back: we actually saw an NSX concept at the 2012 Detroit show, and Acura has spent the last three years teasing the car in a variety of ways. The slow burn, however, means we know a lot about the NSX. It's will use a mid-mounted twin-turbo hybrid powertrain and run with all-wheel drive. It will also wear an innovative zirconium e-coat paint, a new paint process that Honda says is more environmentally friendly. Honda has also said it will build the new NSX in Ohio, where a large part of the car's development work has been done. The original NSX was produced from 1990-2005 and helped establish Acura's performance credentials in the United States. It was a landmark car and a shot across the bow of Ferrari, Lamborghini and others.

Mini SE gets the art car treatment with The Flash superhero painting

What better superhero to put on an electric car than The Flash? Admittedly, the speedy superhero may be a better fit for the Porsche Taycan Turbo or Tesla Model S Performance, but a Mini SE is a fine option itself. The Mini flashes through corners instead of the quarter mile. There, we made it work. Mini has decided to attend the international comics, gaming, animation and fantasy fair, Lucca Changes 2020, with this art car. This year, the fair is completely online. The author who made this art car is Carmine di Giandomenico. He’s an Italian cartoonist who actually made 34 issues of The Flash. Obviously, he had an idea of what he was doing going into this project. Previous to this project, he earned the nickname of “fastest cartoonist in the world” when he drew 56 comic tables in 48 hours. The work of art drawn on this Mini is meant to be a recreation of the cover for Issue 123 originally drawn by Carmine Infantino. Very few details of the actual process were detailed by Mini, but itÂ’s said to have taken di Giandomenico just 10 hours to complete it from start to finish using a “mixed technique.” That tracks with the speeds at which he typically completes his drawings. Art cars can take days to create depending on their complexity, but this is not one of those. As we look at the number of photos provided, “The Flash” is the main event along the sides of the Mini. Lightning arcs up and down and front to back. The lightning bolt symbol on the hood is the same as what youÂ’ll see on The FlashÂ’s chest. It all fits quite nicely with the electric MiniÂ’s persona. Now, if Mini can just find a way to harness The FlashÂ’s power to increase the carÂ’s 110-mile range on a full charge ... Related Video:

Hands on with the 2016 Mini Clubman

When the original Mini Clubman debuted, it was marketed as a bigger, more versatile version of the popular Hardtop. But over the years, the British brand's lineup has grown both in terms of vehicle size and number of models on offer, leaving the original car's formula by the wayside. There are now two five-door models, in the form of the Countryman and Hardtop, both of which offer more versatility than the four-and-a-half-door Clubman ever could. For 2016, Mini has transformed the Clubman, making it once again the brand's most versatile model. To familiarize ourselves with the new six-door model – yes, there really are six doors – ahead of the car's official debut in Frankfurt next week, Mini USA's product planning manager, Patrick McKenna, walked us through both the interior and exterior changes for the brand's newest model. As McKenna tells it, the BMW-owned company has gone to great lengths to make the Clubman more than just a long-wheelbase car with barn doors. There are changes both inside and out that not only serve to better distinguish this new model from the brand's other five-doors, but from anything else in Mini's lineup. Check out our chat with McKenna at the top of the page, and stay tuned for more Clubman news next week.