|
Tuesday November 25, 2008
|
At the Los Angeles Auto, the auto execs and press have gone, the public has arrived, and the booth models have put on more demure clothing. Everything I saw this year in LA points to one conclusion: This is the one show to be at in the U.S. There's more excitement and more important new models in Los Angeles. If Detroit gives you five new pickups and SUVs, LA can match and raise with the same number of electric cars and ultra-efficient hybrids. Understand, I'm not trying to kick Detroit when they're down (I've been saying LA is the place to be since 2006). But it's time to face facts. Here are five reasons why LA is winning over Detroit:
LA Auto Show Slideshow: Highlights
California is the U.S. car capital. The U.S. headquarters of more car companies are located in California than Detroit. Ditto for design studios. Silicon Valley electronics makers who account for more of the car's value each year are an hour's flight away. To be fair, Michigan has plenty of tech firms and research labs, too.
Automakers are bailing on Detroit. Porsche dropped last year. For the 2009 North American International Auto Show, Detroit's formal name, dropouts include Nissan, Mitsubishi, Land Rover, Suzuki, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce. Two of the Detroit Big Three defected from the LA show, but they still had booths for public days. On media days, it was as if a neutron bomb went off: Little signs of life even the cars remained standing.
The good intros were in LA. As the importance of alternative-fuel vehicles grows, the natural habitat for product intros is California, the most green-conscious state and a world leader, at least at talking about green. LA is, "How many miles on electric power before the engine kicks in?" Detroit is still getting away from, "That thing got a hemi?"
The open-minded buyers are in LA. Each auto show has two parts: media days and press days. The media goes anywhere there's an hors d'oeuvres tray, free booze, and a good chance your flight out won't be cancelled by snow. The public goes because they want to kick tires before buying. But in Detroit, so many people have relatives in the business that choices are pre-ordained by which of those three offers you friends & family pricing. In LA, you're more likely to buy based on things like quality and desirability.
The weather. Los Angeles in mid-November vs. Detroit in January. What more can you say? Three years ago the LA show was in January also, a couple days removed from Detroit, and all LA got to announce was a couple import model convertibles. The move to November was the tipping point.
Detroit is far from dead. It has good cars and more coming. And many of the major international automakers continue to showcase cars there, notably Audi, BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, and Toyota. There continue to be three major shows in the U.S: Detroit in January, New York in March, and LA in November. Where five years ago it was clearly that order (Detroit, then New York, then LA, then Chicago as the biggest of the regionals), now it's not so clear. In my mind, LA is pulling ahead in mindshare, New York always has the advantage of all that media coverage that's a subway ride away, and Detroit has its work cut out. And there's also increasing interest in the mid-fall SEMA show that has gone from showing chrome-plated Pep Boys parts to showcasing technologies that might be in mainstream cars 2-5 years from now, as well as the car tech at January's Consumer Electronics Show.
See my slideshow of LA Auto Show highights and links to the top 10 cars and top 10 green cars of the show.
LA Auto Show: Top 10 Cars
LA Auto Show: Top Green Cars
|
|
|
Mixx It
Digg It
Stumble
More...
