A Different Feel for NAIAS

Have you been to the 2009 North American International Auto Show yet?  I just went yesterday and was amazed at the different feel it had.  Please note that I was one who had not been following all the pre show press describing the show for this year which talked about it. Even if I had it would not fully describe the different feel until you experienced it for yourself.

 What feel am I talking about?  I call it 'simplicity'.  Yes, scaling back on the fancy show stopping displays to keep budgets in check.  Keeping things simple.  And as a few people at the show shared with me, it was like they were bringing it back to how it used to be back in the day. There were no monsterous displays for the most part.  Maybe only a few.  All I could see were cars. Wait a minute!  Isn't that what you always see when you to an auto show? Yes, but it was different this time.  I saw more of them.  They popped out at me more because there were no big huge displays and contraptions to distract you from seeing them. And it even seemed like there were more cars there than last year.  I am not sure if this is true but it sure seemed like it. Seems like simplicity may be better for marketing to allow people to actually pay more attention to the cars themselves.  

Unfortunately, several foreign companies backed out from the show this year as they figured there would be a focus on American cars.  This did however open up the basement for a new exhibit which I found to be very interesting.  Visitors are able to ride as passengers in hybrid and fuel cell concepts and ride around a track built for the test drives. While riding in the car your driver tells you all about the car you are riding in and how it is operating.  It was fantastic and a great way to allow consumers to get a head start on thinking of going green with their transportation.  All in all I had a much better experience this year than in recent years.  If you haven't had the chance to go be sure to get there soon!!