The Los Angeles Auto Show 2008 is going on and offers a good snapshot of what the automobile industry is going through.
The gist, if auto shows are where you gauge the temperature of the industry, then this one didn’t disappoint. The industry is in disarray when it comes to mainstream car manufacturers. Besides the strange ordeal between AFS Trinity and the LA Auto Show not allowing them to advertise their 150 mpg cars, the show was scaled down from last year.
Exhibition. At birds eye view, we would estimate there were one third less cars this year. Most striking was that muscle cars, big SUVs and pickup trucks have been relegated to the back. What stands in front, greeting a flock of impassive watchers are smaller, more fuel efficient cars. Almost every brand and company exhibited some sort of fuel sipper, either a hybrid, HEV of some sort of modern system. GM, particularly showed off its small Aveo cars, as well as a few HEVs. It was the same for all others, save for the Ferraris and Maseratis of the show that have no such things. Audi and VW floor show was so white it made it hard to look at the vehicles and read the signs. Hopefully they can tone it down next time. We actually had to wear sunglasses in their stands. A little too much guys.
The people. It didn’t feel there was a lot of enthusiasm. people were watching passively but not getting caught up. In fact, they all too often would neglect manufacturers claims for more practical questions, such as what is the fuel mileage, is it electric and when will it be out. Those three questions would pretty much sum up what we heard everywhere. Many times, presenters would speak about their cars in front of an empty audience.
The Interesting Lot. Sadly enough Nissan did not show any electric vehicles, and only had its Altima hybrid. The most fun we had was in the Kentia hall where you can see innovators and smaller companies with interesting products.
The Pros And Cons. The pros were the hybrid, electric vehicles, EV and prototypes there. The cons, were the lack of them. We were hoping for much more considering the hype in the media which has turned an entire consumer base looking for these types of vehicles. The pros, seeing more EVs than the last years. The con was the sometime ridiculous marketing pitches and linguo. People need straight talk at this stage, not fancy dubious catchy phrases. This clearly showed how far removed and out of touch these big car corporations are with their potential clients.
In conclusion, the show was no where nearly as enthusiastic it has been in the past, and one can surely sense the despair with manufacturers. We not the only ones thinking this, according to the AP. The promise of EVs and HEVs, coupled with the next generations of more advance plug-in hybrids, PHEVs were good to see but unfortunately not there yet. We wished we would have seen more conversion shops and results. But seeing how AFS Trinity was treated, it would make sense they wouldn’t be here. We were there. We are happy to have seen it. We wrote about it. That’s all. Until next, good luck!
What a difference a year makes. Now let’s get back to the news.