Detroit Show enters the age of austerity

Visiting journalists were left in no doubt as to the effect of the economic crisis on Detroit and its auto show. Gone were most of the customary parties and off-site events, and most manufacturers’ stands were considerably more modest than in previous years.

Some manufacturers – such as Nissan and Mitsubishi – weren’t at the show at all, while others had scaled back their displays to such an extent that the two Chinese manufacturers in attendance, Brilliance and BYD, found themselves promoted to the main display hall, rather than the downstairs dungeon of the Michigan Hall.

Indeed, the overall feel of the show harked back to quieter times, before the 1990s, when the Big Three began to up the ante in terms of product launch razzmatazz.

Bob Lutz, GM vice-chairman of product development, admits that those days are gone. “I think any superfluous showbusiness, or lavish, glamorous introductions like we used to do at Chrysler are all a thing of the past.”

Indeed, Lutz and former Chrysler chairman Bob Eaton revitalised the Detroit show from 1992, when in a memorable stunt, the new Jeep Grand Cherokee was driven through a plate-glass window into the show. From then on, the Detroit Show became ever-more lavish, with stands converted to grand theatres, staging ever-more elaborate productions.

But 2009 is no time for that - austerity is the watchword. “All I know is we took about 50% out of the cost of our stand,” says Lutz. “We took away a lot of the structures, such as salad bowl-shaped Saturn stands, and towers with holographic displays.”

Lutz doesn’t regret this. “I think they cluttered up the stand,” he says. “The fact that we don’t have any of that stuff gives our stand a much more businesslike and cleaner appearance. I imagine it’s going to be much the same around the show.”

Certainly GM and Chrysler both presented very austere stands, though Ford, and most of the major import brands, had displays that looked very similar to their 2008 displays.