NAIAS 2015: the cars and technology of Detroit's auto show

The classic Auto Show Reveal is, all at once, both formulaic and endlessly unique. It usually involves a car whose lines are being teased from beneath a translucent sheet — but beyond that, the sky's the limit. Sometimes there are dancers, sometimes there are lasers, sometimes there are unicycles — but there's always a new, never-before-seen vehicle at the end of it.

Join us as we celebrate the spectacle, the majesty, and the ridiculousness of this year's North American International Auto Show, along with nearly every car revealed over the past two days. Even if you hate cars, it's hard to hate a good unveiling.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he brought a feature back to the company's top-of-the-line sedan only after the change received negative feedback from his offspring. Speaking to attendees of the Automotive News World Congress today in Detroit, Musk said that one of his kids called the Model S "the stupidest car in the world," because it didn't have reading lights in the back. The feature had originally been removed because Musk and others believed people would use backlit devices. One of his five kids thought (and said) differently, and the lights were brought back.

A quick look at the Local Motors Strati might elicit a reaction like, "why does it look like it's made out of Rubbermaid garbage cans?" It's a fair question — continuous tubes of dull black plastic outline virtually every major component of this car in places where you'd normally expect bright, shiny colors. Metal. Chrome. Pretty stuff.

There's a good explanation, though: the Strati is basically willed into existence by an enormous 3D printer that extrudes those lines of plastic making up the car's frame. After that, it's refined using a CNC milling machine, a few mechanical bits are slapped on, and boom, you have a running car.

At the North American International Auto Show today, Verizon rolled out a new service called Verizon Vehicle that's basically a way to modernize a car that's already on the road by connecting it to telematics services — think of it like an OnStar that you can install yourself. The system includes a module that plugs into a car's OBD port, a Bluetooth speaker, and a smartphone app.

Verizon Vehicle includes a variety of features: roadside assistance, automatic notification if your car is suspected to be in an accident, a vehicle locator (so you can't get lost in a parking lot), stolen vehicle tracking, an SOS button for emergencies, and car diagnostics, among other things. Many (if not most) of these features are available from a modern car's built-in systems, but Verizon's targeting a potentially huge market: older cars with tech-savvy drivers. Sales kick off around April 10th, with availability in brick-and-mortar retailers expected toward the end of the year. The service will run $14.99 a month (hardware included) for the first vehicle and $12.99 for each additional one.

What better place to announce the next version of a famed racing simulator than at a car show?

Microsoft and Ford have teamed up to announce Forza Motorsport 6 this evening at the North American International Auto Show, which will feature the new Ford GT as its "cover car." (Forza Horizon 2, the last game in the series, featured the Lamborghini Huracán; Forza Motorsport 5, a launch title for the Xbox One, featured the McLaren P1 hypercar.) The new F-150 Raptor and Mustang-based GT350R, which debuted at the show today alongside the GT, will also appear in the game.

It's been an incredible, wonderful day for cars. Any auto show is a good one, but this year's NAIAS in Detroit has been a doozy: the Ford GT and Acura NSX, two storied supercar marques with 75 years of combined history, are back in the mix and spitting fire.

They're both mid-engined beasts that are made in America (the NSX will be manufactured in Ohio) and cost well into the six figures, but that's pretty much where the similarities end. The GT traces its roots back to the ’60s and a business deal gone bad between Ford and Ferrari; the NSX is young by comparison, having gone into production "only" 25 years ago. The new GT is a pure gasoline car — a compact, twin-turbo V6 good for over 600 horsepower — while the new NSX relies on a relatively complex hybrid system that'll put out at least 550 horsepower. The NSX has been rumored or confirmed for production for over half a decade; the GT has only emerged as a solid rumor over the past few weeks.

Auto shows are typically a place to debut cars, not to build them — but then again, Local Motors isn't your everyday automaker.

The Phoenix-based company crowdsources the design of its cars (like the oddball Rally Fighter), and it's showing a refreshed version of its 3D-printed Strati model here. But here's where it gets weird: Local Motors is building the Strati right on the floor of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit with printing and routing equipment that it brought in just for the occasion. The machines, encapsulated in glass for safety's sake, don't take much more room than a very small apartment (or a very big closet, depending on how you look at it).

To say that the new NSX has had a long, fraught journey to production would be an understatement: the on-again, off-again supercar was first introduced as a concept car back in 2007. Now, in 2015, we finally know what the production model will look like.

The hybrid mid-engine NSX succeeds the legendary first-generation model, a hand-built, all-aluminum exotic that lasted in Honda's stable for a full 15 years — so basically, the new version has a lot to live up to.

If the ridiculous mob that formed around the car this morning is any indication, the new Ford GT is going to be one hell of a car.

The successor to Ford's famed line of GT models — most recently produced in the mid-aughts — the latest GT uses a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 making over 600 horsepower. Designed to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the car will go into production late next year for sale in "select global markets" — and needless to say, it won't be cheap.

After a quick peek last week at CES and a press release earlier this morning, Chevy fully unveiled its next-generation Volt at Detroit's North American International Auto Show today.

The big news — other than the sleeker, all-new design — is that electric-only range has increased about a dozen miles to 50. At that point, a gas engine kicks in, offering a total range of "more than" 400 miles before a fill-up and recharge are necessary. The engine is all-new, a 1.5-liter unit that takes regular gas and delivers a combined fuel economy of 41 mpg when in use. Charging comes in 4.5 hours connected to a 240-volt source.

It's no secret that GM will be rolling out support for both CarPlay and Android Auto, but we haven't seen it on a production GM model — until now. The 2016 Volt on the stand at Detroit's North American International Auto Show this week has an in-car entertainment system that includes support for both CarPlay and MirrorLink; both systems appear as options in the vehicle's Settings menu. Android Auto is missing, but there's plenty of time to add it — the Volt won't be on the road until the middle of this year.

Countless cars from a wide variety of automakers are expected to add support for both CarPlay and Android Auto this year as the battle for dashboard supremacy heats up — Apple and Google are both making big plays to control the interactions between drivers and their cars, and most car companies are electing to support both. GM — and Chevrolet, specifically — is on that list.

The rumored Bolt concept car broke cover today in Detroit, Chevrolet's big bet on an all-electric sedan.

The car, a high-roofed hatch, promises "more than" 200 miles on a charge at a price around $30,000 — not far from the market Tesla is looking to go after with its upcoming Model 3. It supports DC fast charging, though GM doesn't say exactly how long it would take to fill it from empty.