Events
Our coverage of worldwide events
Detroit auto show: GM has eyes for Mini market
Who says cute little British cars can have all the fun and the market to themselves?
General Motors’ North American sales chief said at the Detroit auto show that the U.S. automaker is weighing a rival for BMW’s Mini luxury small car (pictured right).
“We are not ready to announce anything, but we are looking at it very seriously,” Mark LaNeve told Reuters. “There is a lot of space in the luxury market that we are not currently occupying. If you look at sophisticated urban transportation, the Mini Cooper, the Audi A1 … that is certainly a segment that has some opportunity for us.”
Mini is seen as a design icon and some owners show their love for the British brand’s roots by emblazoning the Union Jack flag on the car roof.
Detroit auto show: McCain in the driver’s seat (of a car)
Presidential candidate John McCain joined his rivals, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, at the Detroit auto show, gawking at the latest hybrid powered cars ahead of the hotly-contested Republican primary on Tuesday.
The Arizona senator and former fighter pilot seemed at ease sitting in Chrysler’s Dodge Zeo concept car (pictured right with Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli) with its batwing door and glass roof.
Detroit auto show: Renault has entered the building
Renault doesn’t sell cars in the world’s biggest auto market, and for that reason historically has not participated in the Detroit auto show.Â
That didn’t stop the group’s strategy director, Patrick Pelata — considered the group’s second-ranking executive – from walking around the exhibition with some other company executives during the media preview days. He was spotted checking out the interior of the Infiniti SUV of alliance partner Nissan.
Detroit auto show: Writers’ strike complicates Nissan marketing plan
Fans of “Lost,” “Desperate Housewives” and other top TV shows aren’t the only ones suffering from the Hollywood screenwriters strike as Nissan’s marketing efforts have been complicated by the battle.
Nissan North America senior vice president Mark McNabb (pictured right) said the two-month-old strike, which has halted production on virtually all scripted shows, was making it harder for Nissan to revamp its U.S. marketing.
Detroit auto show: Volt in 2010 now a “stretch” for GM
General Motors Corp’s touted all-electric plug-in Chevy Volt (pictured right) may not be built by the end of 2010 as it had hoped after all.
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The automaker’s target is a “big stretch,” but it will not be changed, GM vice chairman and product chief Bob Lutz said at the Detroit auto show.
In fact, GM also said at the show that a plug-in Saturn Vue SUV could precede the Volt. And Japanese rival Toyota said it plans to market a test fleet of plug-in vehicles to companies or government agencies by the end of 2010.
Detroit auto show: This Ferrari runs on biofuel
   Ferrari may be known for its sexy luxury sports cars, but the question it has raised is: will drivers be able to fill ‘er up on the farm?
   The Italian automaker showed off a “concept car” at the Detroit auto show that can run on biofuel, ethanol — a sort of grain alcohol. The company said the car — not meant for production – reflects its Formula One racing experience and a growing demand for alternative fuels in the United States.
Detroit auto show: Chinese automakers lost in translation
Chinese automakers at the Detroit auto show showed off their latest cars as they jockeyed for position in the race to be the first from that country to eventually sell cars in the U.S. market.
While the vehicle designs have improved from past years, the companies still need to work on the translation of their media material if they want to win over skeptical American consumers.
Detroit auto show: The importance of being ‘Jim’ at Toyota
You know a company is ready to move on when it has cracked a joke in public about some unwanted losses.
Jim Lentz (pictured right), the president of Toyota’s U.S. sales operations, made sure of that at a news conference at the Detroit auto show when he made light of the recent defections of Jim Press — the only foreigner ever to be named to Toyota’s board — and Jim Farley, formerly general manager of Toyota’s Lexus luxury division in the United States.
Detroit auto show: Blue Book analyst sees more used car sales
With the possibility of a U.S. recession on the horizon, American consumers are more likely to look at buying a used car than going for a new model, said Jack Nerad (pictured), executive market analyst at Kelley Blue Book, which tracks the value of used vehicles in the United States.
“When a recession looms, consumers traditionally put off the purchase of a new vehicle,” he said at the Detroit auto show. “This has a negative impact on new car sales and in turn slows the economy still further.”
Detroit auto show: Jaguar aims to rebuild image
Jaguar, on the brink of being sold to an Indian automaker, has worked to sharpen its brand image after earlier strategic missteps, the Ford Motor Co unit’s managing director said at the Detroit auto show.Â
According to Mike O’Driscoll, Jaguar’s image was hurt in the 1990s by plans to broaden the British luxury brand’s appeal to a far broader luxury audience. In the end, analysts said the plan backfired and hurt sales.
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The Wall
