Subdued start to Detroit auto show just the right touch
DETROIT – You know, maybe this is the way that auto shows ought to be.
There are bright lights to show off the cars as well as possible, and executives standing and making speeches about products coming down the pipe. But on this first day of the Detroit auto show, there were few cases of marketing excess distracting from the vehicles themselves.
Detroit was always known for its pizazz and glamour, but this is a gritty town and these are gritty times. So there are no marching bands (when Chevy announced the new Camaro) and no cattle drives (Dodge and the Ram pickup truck), and absolutely no stupid ideas. Ford's chrome-plated Shelby and lock-down urban assault concept would stand out today in a completely opposite way from before.
Instead, Ford showed off one car, the new Focus, bringing eight different international executives on stage to announce it, including CEO Brian Mullaly, Joe Hinrichs (former president of Ford of Canada, now in charge of the Ford's Pacific operations) and, of course, Bill Ford himself.
Why the dedication to just one vehicle? Because it's a small, fuel-conscious but sexy car that Ford sees as its future in this new world of small, fuel-conscious cars.
General Motors also announced a couple of new vehicles, but these are down the road and not available this year like the Ford. The Buick Regal GS is a full-sized performance sedan that's intended to remake Buick as a performance brand now that Pontiac is gone, and the GMC Granite is a small car that looks like an even-stubbier Kia Soul. But it's a just a concept, and may be too little too late.
At least the cars were shown off with a simple drive onto the stage. It's tough to demonstrate fiscal responsibility with trapeze artists whizzing around overhead and plate glass windows waiting to be shattered.
Chrysler knows this better than most. There's no press announcement planned for its new product here, just a bunch of people happy to explain the cars to the curious.
It's all part of the new approach to vehicles in North America. A bit of excitement from the product itself, rather than marketing-generated hoopla that doesn't mean much when you're standing outside in the cold at the gas station, pumping buck-a-litre fuel into your salt-stained car.
Maybe the industry really is back on the right track, after all.
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