Harald Hamprecht Detroit Motor Show 2010
01/17/2010
First the good news: Even the battered US auto industry has had one or the other world premiere of importance, especially the next Generation of the Ford Focus. There are also cars that you will only see on North America's roads, such as the Hyundai Equus (which is then given another name). And nice studies, like the GMC Granite or the C adillac XTS Platinum Concept, a luxury sedan that is intended to replace the DTS and STS series of the American premium brand in the long term.
The Detroit Motor Show was a complete success for the Germans
The second good news: From the perspective of German manufacturers, Detroit was a complete success. Because they dominated the fair with their exhibits, above all with the Audi e-Tron, the BMW Z4sDrive35is and BMW Conecpt Active e, the Mercedes E -Class convertible and the CLS design sculpture or the VW New Compact Coupe.
The new is represented at the fair for the first time Chrysler - major shareholder Fiat , the the 500 between its sports car brands Maserati and Ferrari presented. And shows how he envisions the future of Chrysler: as badge engineering of existing Lancia models like the Delta.
Some are new tooChinese and Korean manufacturers who participated in the ' Electric Avenue ' want to score with small e-carts, which however have more the charm of golf carts.
Yes Now to the list of bad news: This time too, numerous car brands shine with absence: Porsche , Lamborghini , Nissan , Infiniti , Mitsubishi or et wa Suzuki . The list feels longer than last year. This is also due to the fact that some brands were simply buried in the crisis year 2009, such as Saturn and Pontiac . Or are on the verge of being hired, like Saab . Or they were sold to the Chinese, like Hummer .
Hyundai gets a lot of attention in Detroit
Another blow to the US ego: The renowned B2B magazine Automotive News names the Korean manufacturer Hyundai one the stars of the show. Not only because the Koreans were one of three brands with sales growth in 2009, but because they score with continuity in management and quality. Hyundai even becomes the cover story in business magazine Fortune, which honors the performance of the Koreans instead of praising the local industry with the green clover, as in the past -text-link href='https://topgear-autoguide.com/detroit-motor-show/'> Detroit Motor Show in the old Cobo Hall in half an hour. Journalists did not stand in each other's way on the press days. Probably also because many editorial departments have not sent any or fewer employees to Detroit for cost reasons.
Many CEOs shone in Detroit with their absence
The CEOs of the major manufacturers stayed in the background: VW boss Martin Winterkorn stayed at home, as did BMW boss Norbert Reithofer and Toyota - boss Akio Toyoda. The sales and marketing managers had to be enough to present the new products to the media representatives. It was completely different at other major trade fairs, such as recently in Tokyo or Shanghai.
Before and after the press conferences, the stands often seem downright orphaned. At some counters, such as Mazda , save yourself the manufacturers even the hostesses and simply openly display the press material.
This fair no longer has any charm. The land of great entertainers still seems to be frozen in shock. Only the perseverance slogans have remained, the same phrases about world-class cars, great service, great people, great companies rushing towards a new, rosy future.
'Motown' has run down
The dreariness is also evident outside the exhibition hall: in the city itself, hardly anything has changed. Apart from the fact that more people are wandering downtown who simply fell through the social network in the USA. You can see in Detroit that the former 'Big 3' have continued to close factories and lay off employees. 'Motown' is down. New plants are being built in the south of the country, in Alabama, Tenessee. Built by importers - from Germany and Asia.
The auto industry must ask itself whether the Detroit Motor Show really needs it any more. Whether THE leading American trade fair should not be established in Los Angeles - although the former 'Big Three' - GM, Ford and Chrysler - certainly wanted to prevent this, because their headquarters are in Michigan. And California is the stronghold of importers. But one thing is clear: the industry certainly doesn't need a show in Detroit in January, in New York in April and Los Angeles in December. Perhaps the USA should follow the example of China, which is now the largest car market in the world - and load alternately every year to Los Angeles or Detroit, as China does with Shanghai and Beijing. Because one big US trade fair per year is by far enough in times of tight budgets.
