News that the three local heroes were on the verge of bankruptcy was not exactly the best entrée to the Los Angeles Auto Show 2008. On the day that the bosses of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler were due to be gently questioned by mostly friendly journalists they were instead grilled by hostile congressmen.
And instead of PR goodwill, the stakes were much higher: multi-billion dollar loans without which, said GM boss Rick Wagoner, there would be ‘a catastrophic collapse in the US economy’. It’s hard for PR men to put a positive spin on company prospects when their bosses have just been testifying that they are nearly bankrupt.
Where were the ‘Big Three?’
GM cancelled its LA press conference and had nothing new to show at America’s second biggest car show. The stand was near-deserted and had a sad and resigned air of failure. For GM – once the country’s biggest and richest corporation – to go to the government begging for aid is a blow to America as much as to its biggest auto maker. Especially in its centenary year.
No big GM boss was on hand. The questions, after all, would have been depressingly predictable – and would have included the obvious ‘why should a company that has made mostly second-rate cars in America over the past 30 years get a state bail-out?’ Even GM car tsar Bob Lutz, who likes nothing more than to strut around motor shows dispensing lofty views to adoring hacks, was absent. The LA show 2008 was no place for loose cannons.
GM’s American cars have improved a bit – the latest Cadillac CTS is appealing and the Chevy Malibu (North American Car of the Year) is not bad, never mind that it uses the old Vectra platform when Europe has moved on to the Insignia. Trouble is, GM is now cancelling new product programmes, so dire is the economic situation. The future I fear may be no better than the recent past.
Chrysler also had nothing new, its top executives were absent, and half of the lights on its stand were turned off. Its stand was as dark as a cave, reflecting the general view of its prospects.
The Blue Oval: razzmatazz of sorts
Only Ford, the healthiest of the ailing trio formerly known as the ‘Big Three’, had a senior executive on hand – North American boss Mark Fields – to try to rally disappointed local scribes. There were even some new cars, including a mediocre-looking revised Ford Fusion (Mondeo size but looking about two generations older – why are European Fords so good and American Fords so bad?). There was also a facelifted Mustang, proof that Ford (like GM and Chrysler) can still produce handsome if crude muscle cars, never mind that it’s a rehash of a 40-year old design.
The Japanese and European makers seemed in much better health than the Tiny Trio (née Big Three) although Nissan-Renault boss Carlos Ghosn – who opened the show – sounded a warning that all car makers may need government loans to meet expensive new eco technology.
The Japanese predictably produced the show stars – namely a smaller and lighter Nissan Z car (the 370Z), the quirky space-efficient Nissan Cube (unlike the old one, this Cube comes to Europe) and, over on the Honda stand, the most impressive concept car at LA, the FC Sport, a hydrogen fuel cell-powered Audi R8 rival complete with snub nose and long flowing tail.
Honda was hinting at a brave new hydrogen future. The American makers would be happy with mere survival.
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