Originally Posted by Vansquish
Detroit's show has been in decline the past few years, and in fairly noticeable ways. Last year we were missing Nissan, Porsche, Ferrari and several others and the Chinese manufacturers had made it onto the main floor rather than being in the basement. I hope that this year is a bit of an improvement, but I'll have to wait until this weekend to find out.
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Hmm... wasn't Ferrari there last year? with the Blue Scud?
Ferrari are "there" this year with the 599xx in the .... Chrysler booth? The Gallery at the MGM will be pretty good.
NAIAS is still one of the premier shows in the world; and until there is no domestic industry, it will continue to be. That said, IMO the show peaked in 2001-2002. The money spent, the cars displayed, the prototypes built... no expense was spared from Ford to Suzuki and everywhere in between. 17 million vehicles per year will do that for a mfr.
This evening, I had dinner with some heavy hitters, some are doing really well; others are "surviving" and others are wondering how much longer their independent firms can keep on going. Staying still will kill you, and spending recklessly will as well. Tough times indeed.
All I can say is "well done Ford... too bad the cost was so high."