#1. KR is an American show. KITT is an American car. The selection of the 08 Shelby Mustang GT500KR is awesome.
While I'd like to have seen the Camaro as KITT, GM lost out when they said no to letting NBC & Universal use
it on the show. The deal went to Ford. Enuff said.
- It is my understanding that GM did not say no to NBC,
NBC said no to GM in favor of Ford's offer which apparently placed a higher bid to win the bid to sponser the show. I agree that the Camaro would make an excellent K.I.T.T. but with Transformers having already used the model, along with My Own Worst Enemy it makes using said car extremely difficult with respects to likeness rights. Whether the car is american or not should not be a concern as much as
having a car that looks the part its supposed to be. If the car is sleek and impressive, if it has advanced features, if it impresses everyone who sees it --- who cares who builds it? In terms of the STORY, the make and model of the car is irrelevant because in the STORY the car is a prototype of a model
that does not exist.
It may look like a Shelby GT500KR, it may look like a Trans Am, It may look like the newest Camaro or any other new model car but it is not in fact the same stock model availible to the public. I fail to understand the obsession with american made cars and international cars --- yes in the real world there's significant concerns but when it comes to motion pictures about a car that is not supposed to exist, it just doesn't matter because with Knight Rider it's not just a car,
it's a costume for the character of K.I.T.T.
As far as the Shelby GT500KR being an awesome choice for the new series? That's simply a matter of opinion and neither your answer nor mine is a matter of fact. Their choice for the series will always be a hot bed subject open for debate but no matter how much you wish to dispute or rationalize it, what's done is done.
#2. Given the advances in technology, the new KITT could be more advanced than the original, not needing the
scads of buttons, but being able to act by voice command.
- From a practical point of view, sure that's more practical to use voice commands in the real world but from a story point of view on screen it's overly narrarative and robs the viewer of suspense not to mention there is a saying in writing for film,
"Show, don't tell."
Too much narrative bores people along with too much spoken exposition. Even if you label a button "TURBO BOOST" you know when Michael presses it, the car is going to jump and not until he makes it happen by pressing the button.
Take for instance the same line here presented two ways on screen.
"Ok buddy, hit it! - Turbo Boost!" - In this instance you know what he wants to do and it's instantanously activated upon his verbal command. You don't expect anything because you already know what is going to happen, you've already been "told" what happens.
"Ok buddy, hit it!" - Here instead of being told what Michael plans to do, you have some idea but you're not sure what he has in mind until his finger reaches to press the button marked "Turbo Boost" -- at that point you know what is going to happen but you have that moment of suspense...you may suspect what he plans to do but you're not entirely sure and the next sequence either proves your suspicions right or wrong. You're also not told what he's going to do until the camera has "shown" you what he intends to do which you have to read to understand. It makes you work a bit harder just for a brief second and that brief second you have to watch -- it keeps you
actively engaged.
When it's a voice command it's already set in stone - you know what will happen, you know when it happens, you know how it happens. One thing that irks me more so than voice commands though is when the new KITT has to say what he's doing, tell you he's doing it, then tell you when he's done doing it. That's far too much narraration than necessary. It sort of insults people's intellgence I think that they can't figure it out for themselves by watching, they have to be spoon fed every little detail.
Also I'd like to point out with simpler tasks, Michael did use voice commands to tell KITT to do something in the original series. It was mostly video monitor calls, computer print outs, looking up locations and so on. I'd say for tasks where a driver/operator can't press a button, verbal commands are much quicker. I think there should be a balance though and I believe the original series handled this well.
Point #3 I just don't have the patience to go into in full detail. I'd say look at K.A.R.R.'s programming errors and the Terminator Films for the flaws in your theory. Statistics and data don't always mean the best choice when humans have the gift of instinct, gut feeligns, etc. and the distinct ability to defy the odds where as computers/AIs depend mostly upon probabilities and calculations.
=VK=
TRANS AM AND TODAY IS, will always be a muscle car 
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