What's the Current Hot Trend? The Return of the Passenger Car
In looking at the events of 2003 and the product unveilings at the 2004 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, Dr. David Cole, president of the Center for Automotive Research, responded to the following questions:
Q. What are the big trends at this year's Detroit Auto Show?
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| Last year the stars of the auto shows were alternative power vehicles, they're still here, but they've made way for the 'year of the car'. (Photo: Ford Motor Company of Canada) |
Cole: If you look at the trends of the last few years it was trucks and SUVs. Last year, the big news here was the alternative power technology--we saw diesels and hybrids. They're still here, but I think the big news here, as Bill Ford said, it is the year of the car. But, it is the year of the car for everyone, particularly for the Big Three.
There were a lot of new introductions; not just introductions of specialty vehicles or low volume vehicles, but really high volume, mainstream vehicles. The examples are the new Ford Five Hundred, the Chrysler 300-C, the Pontiac G6, or the Chevrolet Cobalt, which was actually introduced last week in Los Angeles. There is just a ton of stuff to see. The one thing that I think is most interesting is that the execution on these vehicles is just astounding. This tells us that, as far as we can see into the future, this is going to be a wildly competitive business.
Q: Will these car
introductions help the Big Three stop their market share erosion? And, what's your opinion of the foreign automakers saying that they've increased their sales without resorting to incentives? There were a lot of new introductions; not just specialty cars, but really high volume, mainstream vehicles. (Photo: NYIAS 2003 Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press)
Cole: I'm not sure that the phrase "without incentives" is very accurate because every manufacturer, both foreign and domestic, has a variety of incentives, whether it's low interest financing, rebates or dealer incentives. The international manufacturers have tried to avoid direct incentives, but they all provide major dealer incentives that in turn can be applied back to the consumer.