U.S. carmakers steal Day One spotlight
Baku, January 11 (AZERTAC). This city`s once beleaguered automakers dominated the first day of this year`s Detroit auto show, one of the industry`s premier events, as it opened for press previews on Monday.
Not only did General Motors and Ford Motor Co walk off with the top car and truck awards, and have plenty of fresh, new models to display, but they also struck a more confident tone than some of their foreign rivals as they talked about the industry`s prospects.
"I`ve been coming to this show for 20 years and the last two have been like funerals," Mike Jackson, chief executive of No. 1 U.S. car dealer AutoNation, told Reuters at the show.
"First and foremost, I have to say the whole atmosphere of optimism and confidence about the future is the theme of this show."
One sign of the industry`s resurgence: vehicle debuts are expected to roughly double at the Detroit auto show this year, with as many as 40 all-new vehicles unveiled, up from 18 in 2010.
But the confidence went well beyond the hallmark hype, hoopla and hyperbole of the annual show, officially called the North American International Auto Show.
Just hours after the doors opened, Ford said it would rehire 7,000 U.S. workers over the next two years to meet surging demand for its vehicles.
In the first big event of the show, the Chevy Volt -- the plug-in electric car that has come to symbolizes General Motors` return from bankruptcy -- won the 2011 North American Car of the Year award, beating out rival vehicles from Japan`s Nissan Motor Co Ltd and South Korea`s Hyundai Motor Co.
Ford`s latest version of its Explorer sport utility vehicle was named 2011 North American Truck of the Year -- the third year in a row that Ford has dominated the category.
Chrysler, the No. 3 U.S. automaker, missed out on the awards but was still creating buzz with its new Jeep Grand Cherokee and talk that it may go public before year`s end.
Chrysler, now controlled by Italy`s Fiat SpA, used the show to showcase a redesigned and reengineered version of its 300 sedan as well as a revamped mid-size sedan now known as the 200 and a refreshed version of its minivan.
In 2010, the U.S. auto industry snapped a four-year sales decline and enjoyed three consecutive sales months above the 12 million-unit annual rate to close the year.
Most analysts expect double-digit growth in 2011 and further gains in 2012. The last time the U.S. auto market saw three consecutive years of substantial sales growth was in the late 1990s when Detroit automakers were still riding high.
Sales for 2010 were 11.6 million vehicles, up 11 percent from 10.4 million in 2009.
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