Yesterday I had a chance to go to Detroit for the 2003 Auto show. Extremely busy and crowded but worth seeing overall. This years theme is B I G. Everyone is pushing their SUV's and luxury models. Ford (who has ownership in Volvo) dominated about a quarter of Cobo hall. To my disapointment, Volvo had one of the smallest spaces there. Even Jaguar had more space. I loked around for a while and talked to a few spokespersons. The big deal is the new XC90, MotorWeek TV program's SUV pick for 2003. There was a C60 convertable, a couple of V & S 60's and 80's, but not a 40 series at all. I really wanted to see the V40 wagon since our local dealer never has any in. They rarely have ANY Volvos there anyway since they are mainly a Pontiac, GMC, VW and Jeep dealer. I asked the spokesmodel where the they were and she told me that there was not enough room to showcase them. Pretty fishy I think... Especially because the Lincoln display is right across the walkway from them hogging up all of the space with several Navagators and Avaiators and oversize luxury cars. They had over twice the space than Volvo. Volvo had no high tech displays or even anything interactive with the veiwers. Even the US sport, compact crowd was left out for the most part. GM left out the Sunfires and Cavaliers, Dodge stuck the Neon's and the new turbo RTS (Sport Compact car's car of the year) in the basement.
VW, Hundai and Honda were OK. I couldn't even find the Subaru exhibit. Nissan showcased the new Z and I loved it as well as Mazda's new RX-8, but they were all pushing the SUV's and pickups heavy this year.
I can remember some really great shows in the past. I used to get some of the inside stuff in the past because my sister was a spokesmodel for close to a decade for Toyota, Mazda & Subaru. I even have a cousin who worked on some of the display construction. But this year I felt disconnected from the whole thing. Maybe it's because I'm getting old or just not a "Truck & SUV guy".
XC90, What is Volvo thinking?????
Ben