This year, the Kansas City Auto Show features a familiar lineup of players. They're just a little smarter than they were last year.
GALLERY: KC Auto Show brings smart cars to the metro
For instance, the Chevy Malibu, long known as an affordable mid-size sedan, now wants a new title: the smartest sedan.
"What it does basically is provide technology for the customer that they're already used to, so it mirrors what their phone does," said Jennifer Ecclestone with GM.
Your phone, whether an Apple or an Android, plugs directly into the car's control panel, pulling your phone display onto the car's display.
"It basically brings up your contacts, all of your phone numbers, your messages, anything that you need is in there," said Ecclestone.
The feature is now available in many GM models, along with another feature called Teen Driver Control, which will help parents keep an eye on what their kids are doing.
"It has distance driven to make sure they're being honest with you about where they're driving," said Ecclestone. "The maximum speed which you set with them. You decide how fast they get to go."
Over at Ford, there are several pickups made right here in the metro, as well as the sleek Ford Raptor, which doesn't go on sale until later this year.
But the smartest of them all is the new Ford Super Duty.
"It's the toughest, smartest, most capable Super Duty we've ever made," said Brandt Coultas with Ford.
With a tailgate that folds down with a push of a button, to seven cameras that give the driver a 360 view of their surroundings on the car's control panel, it's one of the old names with a new brain.
The KC Auto Show runs from 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday at Bartle Hall.
Tickets are $11 for adults, $6 for kids. For more information, click here.------
Justin Wilfon can be reached at justin.wilfon@kshb.com.
