Truck-Leaning Auto Show Blows Into Windy City Today

It’s show time again.

The world’s auto makers fire their big guns in the U.S. at the Detroit and Los Angeles auto shows in January, but they always save a little for Chicago--which previews its wares today and Thursday.

Goodies include Kia’s new mid-size sport-utility vehicle, a V-6-powered production model for 2003 that springs from the Sorento model the South Korean car company introduced in Japan last year. And Mercury shows the redesigned 2003 Grand Marquis and a new concept--the five-passenger Marauder convertible--that advances the production model Marauder muscle car that hits showrooms late this year.

By virtue of its Midwestern locale, the Chicago show traditionally is a truck-heavy event.

This year Dodge will unveil the new heavy-duty Ram 2500 and 3500 series pickups, GMC is showing a four-door concept called the Terra4 that builds on the angular “professional truck” styling theme it has chosen to differentiate itself from Chevrolet, and Nissan unveils the Frontier “Open Sky,” a four-door pickup with a sunroof that lets the sun shine on occupants in both rows of seats.

John O’Dell