The glint of a host of greener cars failed to lift the pall hanging over the Detroit auto show on Sunday, as the industry faced tanking sales and General Motors (GM) and Chrysler fought for their very survival.
In a city once known for its gasoline-guzzling trucks and sport utility vehicles, automakers from across the globe tried to one-up each other’s fuel efficiency and commitment to sustainability.
There was even a tree-lined track, set up around artificial lakes and waterfalls in the basement of the convention center, so people could test-drive a host of zero-emission prototypes by GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi and Tesla.
PHOTO: EPA
GM promised to bring a mini car, the Spark, to the US market by 2011 and unveiled a prototype of a Cadillac extended range, plug-in hybrid amid a moving fashion show of its latest offerings, which it said “underscores GM’s ongoing commitment to emotionally compelling design, leading fuel efficiency and advanced technology.”
Chrysler unveiled three plug-in, gas-electric, hybrid prototypes — a sedan, a Jeep and a sports car — which it said “clearly demonstrates that we are well on our way to bringing electric vehicles to our consumers’ garages.”
Ford entered the electric fray with a promise to bring a collection of electric vehicles to market by 2012 and introduced two new, production-ready hybrids.
Refusing to be upstaged, Toyota said on Saturday it would launch a two-seater electric car by 2012 and introduced a new dedicated hybrid for its luxury Lexus brand on Sunday. It was to unveil a revamped version of its popular Prius hybrid yesterday.
China’s BYD Auto will be showing the first mass-produced plug-in hybrid, which went on sale last month in China and is scheduled to hit Europe next year.
And Honda unveiled its reintroduced, dedicated hybrid, the Insight hatchback, which goes on sale in the US in April.
But with industry sales forecast to collapse worldwide amid a financial crisis and deepening recession in several key countries, financial issues were the focus of most questions during the press preview.
GM and Chrysler, which recently obtained US$8 billion in loans from the US government, must present plans by Feb. 17 detailing how they will achieve long-term viability.
Both are hoping to obtain more money from the government to help them survive the next year, when US sales are expected to fall to between 10.5 million and 12 million vehicles from recent averages of about 16 million.
GM plans to “dramatically accelerate and expand the restructuring that we’ve been driving in North America and around the globe for the past several years,” chief executive officer Rick Wagoner said.
“That’s a big job, to be sure, but there’s even more than restructuring that we can and will do starting here this morning,” he said as he introduced the new models.
Chrysler chief Bob Nardelli admitted that this year would be “very challenging,” but insisted that the company would be able to get through the downturn and repay the loans.
Ford, which had initially asked for a government loan but then said it had sufficient resources to get through the downturn, said on Sunday it was “in good shape in the financing of our plan.”
European automakers were also cautious about the global outlook.
Daimler chief Dieter Zetsche said the German automaker was preparing for a “very difficult year,” but that it is “strong and powerful to go through a crisis.”
BMW has been redirected cars originally intended for the US market to the Middle East and China in the wake of last fall’s sharp downturn is sales and will counting on its flexible production system to manage its output in the wake of a “very challenging” year, management board member Ian Robertson said.
Some 58 new models — including 44 worldwide debuts — were to be introduced as the manufacturers vie for the attention of nearly 7,000 journalists from over 60 countries at press previews that conclude today.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
RSS