Auto show rebounds with industry

Associated Press

DETROIT

The sunny yellow Ford C-Max minivan that greets visitors at this year’s Detroit auto show says it all. After taking a pounding during the recession, the U.S. auto industry is full of optimism, and a strong mix of new products will greet buyers as they return to dealerships.

“Looking around at what’s at the show, we’ve never been happier,” said Mike Jackson, the CEO of AutoNation Inc., the nation’s largest auto retailer. “We can tell a gradual recovery is under way.”

The show, which opens to the public Saturday and is one of the biggest in the U.S., has long echoed the mood of the industry. When SUVs were booming, car companies had elaborate displays, such as the indoor waterfall that cascaded past Jeep vehicles. When the recession hit and General Motors and Chrysler tumbled into bankruptcy, cars were spread haphazardly on bare carpet, and attendance fell.

This year, there are signs of a resurgent industry. Car companies are expecting to sell at least 1.5 million more cars in the U.S. this year than they did last year, bringing total sales to 13 million or more.

GM and Ford, newly lean and profitable, have multiple-story displays, with big screens and interactive exhibits. Toyota, on the mend from a series of safety recalls last year, shows some bravado with its “swagger wagon,” a tricked-out Sienna minivan lined with wood floors and a gumball machine. Porsche, the luxury carmaker, is back at the show after a three-year absence, sensing a U.S. recovery.

Buyers are returning to a market with more choices in size, style and fueling than ever, including electric cars such as the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt and plug-in hybrids such as the upcoming C-Max, which can carry up to seven people.

“Throw away your conceptions of which brands to consider,” said James Bell, an analyst with Kelley Blue Book. “You’re going to come into a whole different world now.”

There are new products in every segment, from the Chevrolet Sonic subcompact to the sleeker, more sophisticated Honda Civic small car to the luxuriously restyled Chrysler 300 sedan.

The Detroit auto show is home to some legendary media stunts to introduce cars. In 2008, cowboys drove a herd of cattle down the streets of Detroit to introduce the new Dodge Ram pickup. The year before, Chrysler introduced the Aspen sport utility vehicle in a blizzard of fake snow.

On Tuesday, auto supplier ZF Friedrichshafen had a 6-foot-4 blonde model in a silvery cat suit prowling the floor.

Ford, for example, has its biggest-ever auto show display. At 71,000 square feet, it’s 40 percent bigger than last year’s space in Detroit.

But it doesn’t aim for glitz as much as teaching people about its upcoming electric and hybrid offerings.

At its heart is an auto show first, a 208-foot-long test track for its electric vehicles that show-goers will be able to ride in alongside a professional driver.

The oval track was created by a bridge-building firm, according to Dave Tillapaugh, Ford’s global auto show manager.