The North American International Auto Show's Hits & Misses
Tuesday, January 13, 2009SUZANNE PRATT: In Detroit this week, auto companies are unveiling hot products they hope will rev up sales in the future. But will consumers really want them? Today, Diane Eastabrook toured the North American international auto show with "Motor Trend's" Todd Lassa. The self- proclaimed car geek gives us a look at the event's hits and misses.
DIANE EASTABROOK, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Todd Lassa is "Motor Trend's" Detroit editor. We started our tour of the big auto show in Detroit by looking at his favorite, the Cadillac Converge.
TODD LASSA, DETROIT EDITOR, MOTOR TREND: This car is as sexy as last year's CTS coup concept which of course was about power and about style. And General Motors said it needed to do a car that was not only green and gets good fuel mileage and yet make it something that would appeal to everybody. You want this car because of the way it looks not just because of what it does. I mean, it's got Hollywood appeal. I mean, you see Hollywood types buying Priuses. I think they would love a car like this. Let's take a look at the interior.
EASTABROOK: OK.
LASSA: It's recycled synthetic (INAUDIBLE) fabric.
EASTABROOK: That's cool. It does feel like suede, very cool. What's this, Todd?
LASSA: This is Lexus' first dedicated hybrid. That means there's no conventional gas engine version available. It's only available as a hybrid. It's designed to appeal to people who want something like a Prius but obviously want more luxury, more presence. The problem is I don't think it has as much presence as the Prius. Inside of course you have a much more luxurious interior than what you would expect in a Prius. You have inter- connectivity. That is your Internet connection here. You can download directions and add them to the map. You get real-time tracking, that sort of thing. You know, I think there's some stuff here that is fairly important.
EASTABROOK: This is pretty wild.
LASSA: This is the Lincoln B (ph) concept. It's again an example of the American industry kind of showing not only the public and the press but also Capitol Hill what it's doing to the future, how it's downsizing the cars, how it's getting more fuel mileage out of its cars (INAUDIBLE) .
EASTABROOK: You would actually expect to see this in a production vehicle.
LASSA: No, I wouldn't. I think again this is just for show. People are used to bucket seats these days. The front seats at least would be bucket seats. So this is the Audi sport back concept. It's what we call, what the industry has been calling a four-door coup, Mercedes CLS class, Volkswagen Passat (INAUDIBLE) are the first two examples. For people who, you know, may have bought sports utility vehicles five or eight years ago as a fashion statement, this will probably be the new fashion statement.
EASTABROOK: Lassa admit he looks at cars differently than the average buyer but he thinks there are products here that could be hot sellers down the road. Diane Eastabrook, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Detroit.
