THE DETROIT AUTO SHOW

The Buick Centienne gives hints of the upcoming Enclave.

From edmonds.com

It's almost January, so that means it's almost auto show time in Detroit. Beginning January 14, for nine days, the entire city basks in the limelight of everything that makes the automotive industry so great: technology, design, showmanship and glamour.

Dozens of new models and concepts will debut at the 2006 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). As always, our goal is to let you know what's coming, and give you insight as to what it all means.

Formal press conferences commence January 8. Save the date because that's when we'll go live from the show floor. Until then, here's a head start on what to expect in Motown:

General Motors There's no holiday break for the folks at GM — they have much too much going on with the Los Angeles and Detroit auto shows around the corner. Their all-new sport-utes based on the GMT-900 platform will show up at the Los Angeles show in the form of a Chevrolet Suburban and a GMC Yukon XL. Joining the Suburban in L.A. will be the high-performance Pontiac Solstice GXP. While these models are important, GM saved the really big bling for their homies.

• Buick EnclaveThe all-new Buick Enclave is the first of several full-size crossovers to be based on GM's new Lambda platform. The eight-passenger will utilize 3.9-liter V6 and 5.3-liter V8 engines (with the V8 featuring Displacement on Demand) and a six-speed automatic transmission. Front-drive and all-wheel-drive versions will be offered. A dual-mode hybrid is expected in 2009.

Expect the Enclave to be larger than the current Chevrolet TrailBlazer/GMC Envoy/Buick Rainier. Styling cues were foreshadowed by the 2003 Buick Centieme concept (pictured). Curiously, our non-GM industry sources assert that the first Lambda-based vehicle to go on sale will be the Saturn Outlook. The GMC Acadia will be next, and the Buick will hit showrooms last, replacing both the Rendezvous and the Rainier.