Automakers make best of subdued Detroit show

Editor's note: The North American International Auto Show, known as the Detroit auto show, was held on January 11-25 and was the first international auto gathering in the year. It was held when the once-thriving industry is entering a difficult time as it emerges from the worst United States sales year since 1992.

The show in the world's auto center Detroit, which is also home to US Big Three automakers, attracted attention from nearly every corner of the world. The comparatively subdued show reflected the automaker's current situation, but gathered the industry's top heads, and showed their views and plans to the public, when the global market is trapped in a credit crunch.

People were curious: at the show, what are the automakers doing and what will they do to survive as purse strings tighten? The answers from the top executives might be the key to the industry's future this year.

A new beginning

General Motors doesn't plan to survive but plans to restructure and thrive even though it's still on the edge of bankruptcy.

General Motors Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner obviously regarded the Detroit auto show as a new beginning. His confidence in a promising future came from 17 new and upcoming cars and crossovers, including four global premieres, and especially in its efforts for developing more eco-friendly vehicles.

"In many ways, today marks a new beginning for General Motors, as we dramatically accelerate and expand the restructuring that we've been driving for the past several years."

GM is expected to submit a plan by February 17 to the US Congress to justify the bridge loan the Bush Administration approved. The plan is one of the conditions for GM to receive the aid package it desperately needs.

The company also believes the success story of its China operation provides a shining example of GM's capabilities to run a profitable businesses.

Electrifying strategy

Ford Motor Co is planning to put a fully electric car in showrooms by 2011 that will get up to 100 miles (160 km) on a single charge and plans to offer plug-in versions of its gas-electric hybrid vehicles a year later.

Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr said the company is working on four high-mileage battery-electric vehicles to be introduced in the coming years, as its strategy to escape the industry downturn.

Ford said the company's electrification strategy is "perfectly aligned with our nation's growing interest in advanced technologies that can help reduce our usage of gasoline."

The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker said it also plans to have a battery-powered commercial van on the market in 2010.

In an effort to make electric vehicles appeal to a mass market, Ford said the company is teaming up with utility companies in California, the state government of Colorado and local governments in China to develop projects that can help fuel usage of plug-in, eco-friendly vehicles.

Against the mainstream

German automaker Volkswagen AG said it set a new record in yearly sales in 2008 with 6.23 million vehicles.

Sales were up 0.6 percent over the 6.19 million vehicles sold in 2007, the Wolfsburg, Germany-based company said at the Detroit auto show, while most automakers have reported sales slipping amid the global economic slump.

"This shows that our group's multi-brand strategy is paying off and our young and attractive model range is popular with customers all over the world," Board Chairman Martin Winterkorn said.

Its top market Germany saw an increase of 0.4 percent over 2007 to 1.06 million vehicles, while sales in China, its second biggest market increased 12.5 percent to 1.02 million vehicles.

In what the company called "one of the toughest years for a long time" in the US, Volkswagen sold 314,500 vehicles, down 4.5 percent from 2007.

Safer and Greener

Mercedes-Benz is upgrading one of its top luxury sedans and gave attendees at the show a glimpse of a planned electric car.

Daimler AG unveiled the 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan on the eve of the Detroit auto show. The E-Class will arrive in US showrooms next summer, offering an array of new safety features and two engine variants.

The new systems are equipped with the car "can and will save lives", said Daimler AG Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche.

With many shoppers seeking green cars, the German automaker also showcased Concept BlueZero, three vehicles with alternative electric drive systems that could travel up to 375 miles (600 km) on a single charge, in a production agenda starting from later this year to 2010.

The vehicles will utilize lithium-ion batteries, which are already widely used in consumer electronics but are being adapted to meet automotive requirements. An hour of charging time can provide a range of about 60 miles (96.5 km).

"Zero emissions does not mean zero performance at all," said Thomas Weber, a Daimler Board of Management member responsible for research and development.

3-G Prius

Toyota Motor Corp unveiled its third-generation Prius hybrid, the world's top-selling "green" car, targeting US sales of 180,000 units in the first 12 months and 400,000 globally in 2010.

Introducing the mid-sized sedan at the Detroit auto show, Toyota said the new Prius will hit showrooms in Japan and the US in late spring, followed by other markets around the world.

"We're very bullish about the new Prius," said Bob Carter, group vice president of Toyota Motor Sales.

Taking a major step in its goal of selling 1 million hybrid vehicles a year soon after 2010, Carter said Toyota would sell the new Prius in 80 countries, nearly double the number of markets where the current version is available.

Toyota has sold 1.7 million hybrid vehicles globally since it blazed the trail with the first Prius in late 1997.

New Honda hybrid

Honda unveiled its next-generation hybrid, the Insight, in a hope to compete head-on with Toyota's Prius, which remains the top-selling hybrid in the US, and a Lexus hybrid called the HS250h.

Honda said the 2010 Insight, which will arrive in US showrooms this April, will have a lower price than the Civic Hybrid, which has a base price of $23,650.

"With the introduction of the all-new Insight, we're opening up Honda's fun-to-drive, versatile and fuel-efficient hybrid technology to an entirely new group of buyers that previously may not have considered a hybrid because of either image or cost," John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda, said in a statement.

Honda's debut of the Insight comes as hybrid sales have tumbled. The gas-electric cars sold briskly during the run-up in gas prices last summer but have since come down sharply as fuel prices collapsed.

First in electric cars

Shenzhen-based BYD Auto, backed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, exhibited five of its hybrid and electric cars adjacent to the General Motors booth at the Detroit auto show while the latter plans to launch its mass-produced Chevrolet Volt plug-in in 2010.

"We are confident of exporting our electric cars to the US market in 2011," said Li Zhuhang, general manager of auto export trade division with BYD Auto.

"By 2011 our electric car would be a proven and mature product after three years of existence in China, while the Volt would just be a year old."

The company became the first in the world to mass-produce electric cars last December.

The automaker expects to boost total sales to 350,000 cars this year from an expected 180,000 last year, founder and Chairman Wang Chuanfu said.

"The development of electric-powered vehicles is the best way for the Chinese auto industry to surpass other leading countries," Wang said.

BYD plans to add at least five new models this year.

Brilliance eyes US

Brilliance Auto, the other Chinese auto company represented at the show exhibited four of its models at the subdued auto show. It expects the US to be one of its top three overseas markets along with Europe and Russia.

Although He Guohua, vice president of Shenyang-based Brilliance Auto refused to disclose the timetable for his company's entry to America, he said, "the US market is the most important in our global marketing strategy".

He also admitted that participation in the Detroit auto show was an exercise in brand building for its future market.

The Shenzhen-listed company exported 23,000 vehicles to more than 70 countries last year, a 40 percent increase from 2007, with around 3,000 units to European countries including Germany.

It targeted selling 40,000 vehicles outside China this year.

(China Daily 02/09/2009 page3)