The crowds at the Los Angeles Auto Show are a reluctant bunch this year. Anxious about the economy, the future of the Detroit Three automakers and the unpredictability of gas prices, few people said they had any intention of buying a new car anytime soon.
Those who did express interest in buying said they were either downsizing or looking for something with top-notch gas mileage.
Nearly all had major reservations about a bailout of the US auto industry.
PHOTO: AP
Small-business owner Greg Mohr, 50, said that under normal circumstances, he would be looking for a new car. He recently dumped his Lexus sport utility vehicle, leaving his four-person family with just a Volkswagen Beetle.
US auto sales have fallen about 14 percent in the first 10 months of the year. They plunged 32 percent last month to the lowest rate in more than 25 years and show no signs of significant improvement anytime soon.
“Anytime you start talking about recession, people will scale back their purchasing, which they have,” said Lincoln Merrihew, auto analyst with the market research firm TNS. “A car is something that’s fairly easy to postpone.”
The crowds at the auto show, which opened to the public on Friday at the Los Angeles Convention Center after two days of media previews, reflected those worries. Art Sorensen, a 32-year-old landscape designer, said he was in the market for a vehicle, but business is slow now that California’s construction boom has quieted. If he buys anything, it won’t be at least until next summer, and whatever it is will have to be super fuel-efficient, he said.
“This is the car I came to see,” Sorensen said, pointing to Honda Motor Co’s Insight hybrid, which the Japanese automaker expects to challenge the Toyota Prius when it goes on sale next year. “I’m kind of like, do I go the diesel route, or do I go the hybrid route? Obviously both are a big step in the right direction from where I’m at right now.”
Although fuel prices are now less than half what they were when the national average surpassed US$4 a gallon (US$1.06 a liter) in July, many still said their next car purchase would be a vehicle that gets good gas mileage.
The US automakers’ presence seemed to reflect their dire state.
Ford Motor Co has the most impressive spread — indeed, it is the only one with enough cash and credit to survive through next year. The Dearborn, Michigan, company showed off redesigned Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan sedans unveiled on Wednesday, including hybrid models that can go up to 1,125km on one tank of gas.
It also sported a giant Mustang display and a miniature Fusion racecar track.
The mood was more subdued at General Motors Corp. Two weeks ago, the automaker canceled the unveilings it had planned for the show, but its Chevrolet Volt — the extended-range electric vehicle that holds many of the company’s hopes for a turnaround — attracted a modest crowd.
Chrysler LLC’s area, however, was almost funereal. Chrysler also abstained from any vehicle debuts, though it did showcase the three electric prototypes — a Dodge, a Jeep and a Town & Country minivan — that it unveiled in September.
But the crowds were thin. In contrast to the concert-like lighting and sound at Nissan Motor Co’s adjacent space, the convention center’s dim fluorescent lights were all that lit Chrysler’s vehicles. On Friday afternoon, retirees Greg and Pinkie Stanley were the only ones paying attention to a Chrysler rep’s sales pitch for the Town & Country EV.
“I was just being polite,” said Greg Stanley, 71, as the couple walked to the next exhibit.
Some visitors, like Ron Myers, 65, were more sympathetic to the Detroit Three’s troubles. Myers, a longtime truck owner, said he was in the market for a GMC Sierra 1500 pickup. He said he had a long history of owning Ford and GM trucks.
“They never made better cars,” the retired firefighter said of GM.
Ask him about the government bailout, though, and his opinions get complicated. He said he’d like to see GM get assistance, but it has to find a way to reduce its labor costs.
“I’m union, but they have to be competitive,” he said. “It’s a global market.”
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