Ford, for example, drops its fuel-efficient V6 engine in its new F-150 in favor of an "all V8 strategy." That might have been a good idea back when horsepower was king and gas was cheap. But now fuel economy is at the top of the charts among tire kickers. And Ford will be the only major automaker not offering a V6 engine in its truck. So now Ford is scrambling to engineer a new V6 that probably won't get into the F-150 for another two or three years. "Things shifted around us faster than we could anticipate," says Ford spokeswoman Afaf Farah. Ford is quick to point out that its truck is equipped with a new V8 engine that gets mileage equal to the old V6, while boosting horsepower. But as Ford's product development chief Derrick Kuzak said at a fuel economy briefing recently: "Not getting worse is not enough."

Chevy couldn't be more pleased that Ford is ceding the V6 pickup market. "Significant numbers of people are looking at the V6 option and choosing it," says Chevy spokesman Brian Goebel. More than half of the bare-bone Chevy Silverado work-truck models are outfitted with V6 engines and that percentage is rising along with gas prices, says Goebel. When you include all versions of the Silverado, V6 engines make up about 13 percent of the mix, just slightly more than the 12 percent who went for a V6 on the previous F-150. Chevy and Ford's V6 models start below $20,000, which attracts many first-time buyers, especially young men who might stick with your truck over the long haul. Now, though, those F-150 V6 buyers might go elsewhere. "Ford decided they didn't need a V6 when gas was cheap and then the world changed on them," says Wolkonowicz. "This is going to cost 'em."

Chrysler's challenge is to try to make the hulking Hemi engine in its Ram seem eco-friendly. They say that the famous muscle-car V8 has been re-engineered to give a 4 percent gas-mileage boost. That will improve the Hemi model from 14mpg in the city and 19 on the highway, to 14.6mpg city to 19.8mpg highway. That's a long way off the 40 percent increase the new fuel-economy regulations are calling for by 2020, when all an automakers' vehicles must average 35mpg, up from 25mpg today. And despite the Hemi's improvements, it will be hard to convince buyers that it is anything other than a big gas guzzler. "The Hemi has a huge brand name for horsepower," says J. D. Power auto analyst Jeff Schuster. "It needs an image boost. And it will be interesting to see how that goes over."

This old-school display of metal and muscle might mark the end of an era at the Detroit Auto Show. With Tata's Nano taking the emerging world by storm and Toyota's Prius hybrid selling more than 1 million units, massive models like the Ram and F-150 are looking like dinosaurs. Oh, sure, as long as there is work to be done—on ranches and construction sites—there will be a healthy market for pickups. But their days as the star of the show are waning. All those mileage misers cropping up at this year's show demonstrate that the only way for Detroit to find itself in clover again is to head down the garden path.

© 2008