Sep 25, 2003 – What was striking about the 2003 IAA is that, while the press preview of the 2001 show was profoundly affected by the events in America on September 11, the vehicles introduced this time around – both concepts and production cars – tended to have a certain American characteristic to them: large and/or powerful. In an environment where people shake their heads whenever the price of gasoline (and the near-absent use of diesel fuel) in the US is discussed, there was a veritable orgy of big engines in Frankfurt.

For example, when Kimi Raikkonen comes rolling into Frankfurt in a vehicle, then there is you can be fairly sure that the Mercedes in question, the SLR McLaren, had something fairly potent under its long hood: a 626-hp V8, the first eight to be fully developed by Mercedes-AMG.

Not to be wholly outdone in the power department, the Audi Le Mans Quattro was fitted by a 10-cylinder biturbo FSI engine that provides 610 hp. While not quite in that stratospheric category, even Volkswagen rolled out with the Concept R vehicle fitted with a V6 providing a 0-100 km/h time of 5.3 seconds (the engine is rated at 261 hp, so it is no slouch). There was the Maserati Quattroporte sedan, a Pininfarina penned vehicle that combines size, (wheelbase 120.6 inches), with strength (a 400hp 4.2 liter V8). And the Swiss speed demons at Rinspeed tricked out a Porsche Cayenne Turbo to produce 497 hp at 6,500 rpm.

Of course, not everyone that was showing off sports models was quite as environmentally profligate. There was Toyota with the CC&S 2+2, which is has a mid-engine architecture – for a 1.5-litre engine. It has the new Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive, so the gasoline engine is supplemented by electric motors. And Mazda's 'reverse-wedge' Kusabi urban sports car had a more environmentally appropriate 1.6 liter MZ-CD diesel engine with 107hp, mated to a six-speed automatic shift transmission.

The European market takes what are known in the US as 'station wagons' with greater acceptance than is the case in the states (where the moniker is nearly taboo). Of course, there are variations on the terminology, such being called 'estates' or 'touring vehicles.' For example, there was the Jaguar X-Type Estate, introduced as a production vehicle in Frankfurt. For the first time the marque will provide something to go up against the BMW 3 Touring, the Mercedes C Class Estate, and the Audi A4 Avant.

Saab showed the '9-3 Sport Hatch', a five-door, about which Saab design chief Michael Mauer observes, "Just as the 9-3X occupies a position where coupe meets off-roader, this car represents a cross-over between hatchback and wagon." Opel debuted two new production vehicles, the new-generation Astra and the Vectra wagon. Dieter Zetsche, president and CEO of the Chrysler Group, flew in from Detroit to show to the world a vehicle that will be exclusive to the European market, something that combines the aforementioned aspects of power and size: the Chrysler 300C Touring, an E segment vehicle that will offer all-wheel-drive, and powered by a 5.7liter Hemi engine. It is hard to get more American than the Hemi.

To be sure, there were some important introductions of a more restrained nature. Volkswagen took the wraps off of the fifth generation Golf, a vehicle so important to VW that the mayor of Wolfsburg changed the name of the city to 'Golfsburg' for six weeks. BMW returned to the luxury coupe category with the 6 Series, and introduced the X3, a little brother to the X5 'Sports Activity Vehicle'. The X3 however will be focused on the European rather than the American market.

There was nothing ostensibly American about the 2003 IAA, yet there was certainly at least a subtext that nodded to the place where something like the Cadillac Sixteen makes sense.