If there’s no Champagne, can it still be an auto show?

Actually there was a splash of it at press days for the New York auto show, but it was in a most unusual place: the EV Innovations kiosk. And it was little more than a kiosk, located deep in the basement of the Javits Center. That’s where on Thursday, the final day — in the final hour — of press previews, EVI’s Inizio electric-car concept was unveiled. There wasn’t a lot of Champagne to go around, but that wasn’t a problem; most of the press had gone home by then.

The media’s complaint was that there wasn’t much to see this year. At least in comparison to previous years, that was true enough. Remember stunts of a few years back, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger – then just an actor – “crashing” a new Hummer into ABC’s Times Square studio? Or Nascar drivers operating hybrid taxis around Manhattan? Or swank parties in Fifth Avenue showrooms or SoHo art galleries or Rockefeller Center’s sky-high Rainbow Room? In a way, it all seems very long ago. Things change.

EVI, for instance, is a very small player. But these days its future appears as bright as anyone else’s in this beleaguered industry. EVI may not have sold too many cars yet – if any – but it isn’t billions of dollars in the hole, either.

The General Motors stand here was quieter than a wake. A relatively low-level executive introduced a throwaway vehicle on Wednesday and then vacated the premises, as far as I could tell. There weren’t even any press materials handed out – just a small sign that gave a Web address for information online. In years not that far gone by, reporters were burdened down with binders full of information, CDs full of pictures and bags of swag. Some were so lavish that they found their way to eBay (and some of those – like scale models of the cars just introduced - brought a fair amount of money).

But the G.M. stand this year was almost as devoid of tire kickers as it was glittering new models. The small display of cars used in a coming “Transformers” movie sequel was a highlight.

The situation was only slightly better at Chrysler, but only because it seemed like they might start liquidating their stand displays. A flashing video board kept reminding attendees of “Employee Pricing Plus Plus!” I don’t recall a hard-sell effort like that at an auto show before. Cue the salesmen in plaid sports coats.

The Ford stand, by comparison, looked almost festive. Not much to unveil here, but Ford still has some acclaimed new models, which made their debuts at earlier shows this year, and were for the most part previously unseen by New Yorkers. At Ford, there were plenty of people milling around, a certain amount of excitement was in the air and about all that was lacking was a balloon drop.

As John Krafcik, acting president and chief executive of Hyundai Motor America, said earlier in the week, “Flat is the new up.”

Luxury car manufacturers were noticeably low-key — if you could find them at all. I never saw a Rolls Royce display. Daimler’s luxury flagship, Maybach, brought a single car, and it was parked in a lonely corner like an afterthought. Demand for a car with a $5,00 perfume atomizer option can’t be that high these days.

Bentley, which provided the only champagne reception at the Los Angeles auto show last fall, offered merely snacks this time around. What can you expect when the factory back home in England is operating part time?

In the place of luxury cars in the main hall was Fisker Automotive, the electric car start-up out of California, which occupied quite a bit of real estate, even though it only had two car models to display.

One of the most difficult things to get right these days, when it comes to what’s left of the automobile industry, is affecting the proper mood. Mournful? Optimistic? Apologetic? Empathetic? Indignant? Militant?

It’s all quite sad, to those who have followed the industry for many years. We used to make fun of the outrageous fashions worn by booth models, the smoke machines and pyrotechnic displays. It’s a terrible feeling having lived through the good old days and not realizing then that’s what they were.

Source (article): NYTIMES

Source (pictures): GUESTOFAGUEST, FOTOMAIL, NYTIMES

Cue dark hall, fluorescent lights, smoke machine and dance music. It must be the Scion press conference.

Scion, Toyota’s youth division, has traditionally introduced most of its concepts and products at the New York auto show. The buzz leading up to the press conference on Wednesday was that Scion would be unveiling a version of the Toyota iQ for the American market. The iQ is a small three-seat subcompact roughly the size of the Smart Fortwo, and meant to appeal to young urbanites.

Last week, spy photos of the car on a transporter in Southern California showed up on the Internet and seemed to verify the speculation. So when Jack Hollis, the vice president of Scion, introduced the concept car with the words “the future of personalized transportation,” there was little surprise.

But it wasn’t just a Toyota iQ rebadged as a Scion that appeared on the stage; it was a bright yellow-green custom concept car, with four flared fenders and 18-inch custom wheels. And it didn’t just appear on stage — the small car descended on a platform from the rafters, softly landing on the stage to enthusiastic applause. “How’s that for a quick download?” Mr. Hollis asked in classic Scion youth-speak.

“It’s small, but fierce,” he said. “If it should join our future line-up, I think it could reach iconic status like our xB because of its polarizing style and accessibility for personal expression.”

Indeed, the iQ is very likely to join Scion’s future lineup.

In regular practice, concept cars are used by automakers to predict future design. In the case of the iQ, Scion started with a stock iQ and built a concept car around it.

“Our job was to take an existing iQ and make a custom car,” said Troy Sumitomo, designer of the car and owner of Five Axis, based in Huntington Beach, Calif.

Mr. Sumitomo stood upstage from the iQ Concept and the scrum of photographers around it. He said that the centerpiece of the interior was the 10-inch pop-up monitor on top of the center console. When the monitor is closed, the image on its screen still projects out of its acrylic casing and casts its image in a spasm of moving colors throughout the cabin — theoretically, at least. With massive spotlights hitting the car, the monitor’s effect was severely diminished.

“Everything is based on the center console,” said Mr. Sumitomo, whose Five Axis is responsible for several past Scion concepts, including the Hako and the t2B concepts. “Because that’s where the driver interface is.”

Mr. Sumitomo said his goal with the interior was to capture a concept car flair. The headliner and seats are made of a wet-suit style material, called Scuba. The color scheme of the dials is new. The normal climate control and stereo controls have been replaced by three aluminum bezels. They don’t function. After all, it’s supposed to be a concept car. But Scion is expected to introduce the car to market — in a much more sedate form — in the not too distant future.

Source (article): NEWYORKTIMES

Sources (picture): NEWYORKTIMES, ICONOCAST