By KEVIN WALKER
Michigan Correspondent

DETROIT, Mich. — The atmosphere at this year’s North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) was upbeat, with more people than before coming in to check out what the auto companies have to offer.

“I would say the theme for 2011 is the validation of promise,” said Sam Lorricchio, a spokesman for NAIAS. “2009 was a challenging time for the auto industry. Product development for the auto industry takes three to four years. We had about 35 worldwide debuts this year. Manufacturers were holding back just to show them in Detroit. This is a positive sign for the economy.

“Lots of auto analysts go to this particular show to see what products are in the pipeline. It leads to a lot of speculation about the industry coming back and the economy coming back.”

Lorricchio said based on the first three days of the public week, attendance at this year’s show is up 3-5 percent over last year’s.

“There’s a very interested consumer audience this year,” he said. “People got fired up about coming in and said, ‘Hey, I want to see this for myself.’ There’s a lot of tire-kicking going on.”

At the Ford section of the show, the company had on display a new sport utility concept car called the Vertrek.

“It’s all about design,” said Pavel, a Ford product specialist. Laughing a little, he added, “Safety, it’s out the window.” He said there’s no set date when the car will be made commercially: “Sometime soon. Remember, it’s just a concept car.”
John McElroy, host of “Autoline Detroit,” a local television show on the auto industry and cars, described the Vertrek as a “very interesting vehicle. Even though no one says it it’s going to be what the Ford Escape is going to look like.”

Another new offering on display at the show is what McElroy called “a little mini-van” called the C-Max.

“It’s being produced in Europe now,” said another Ford product specialist. “We just don’t know exactly when we’re going to be making it for the U.S. market.”
McElroy said Ford is “sort of getting back to the roots of a minivan with this.” He explained that originally the minivan was a small vehicle, thus the prefix “mini.” Over time, though, the vehicles grew much larger.

Consumer Guide Automotive reviewer Don Sikora described the C-Max as a popular “European people-mover” that’s been redesigned for U.S. sale and production. “It’s one of the new fuel-savers that Ford is adding to its lineup to counter ‘pump shock’ and boost sales,” he wrote.

Another “new” offering at this year’s show was the Chevrolet Sonic. The Sonic used to be known as the Aveo.

“Nobody seemed to know how to pronounce the name,” McElroy said. “They completely redesigned it.”

The Sonic is a compact car that will appear in showrooms in the fall. Chevrolet describes the car as the perfect vehicle for getting around town, with plenty of features such as OnStar, XM Radio and Bluetooth wireless capability for some phones.

McElroy said an interesting aspect of the Sonic story is that it’s going to be made in Orion Township, Mich., about 20 miles north of Detroit. Although current employees will be paid the traditional premium wages enjoyed by UAW workers, new workers will be paid $14.50 an hour, which is close to 50 percent less. Although new hires will get benefits, they won’t be as good as the benefits current workers receive.

“GM now has a competitive labor contract,” McElroy said. The Aveo was made in South Korea.

A car coming back to be made in the United States after being produced overseas is something different. McElroy said he hasn’t driven the Sonic yet, so he’s withholding judgment. “I have no doubt it’s going to be better than what the Aveo was,” he added.

Pure electric, plug-in electric and hybrid electric vehicles seemed to have more of a presence this year. Part of the reason is that Chevrolet Volt won the prestigious North American Car of the Year this year, which is chosen by a group of journalists; but the Nissan Leaf, a pure electric vehicle, was also in the running for the award.

McElroy described the Volt as “in between” the Leaf and Prius. The Volt can go anywhere between 25-50 miles on a single charge, whereas Prius can go “only a couple of miles on pure electric power,” he said. The Volt costs about $40,000, but taxpayers may be able to get a credit on their federal tax return of up to $7,500 to offset the cost.

Also, Toyota is launching three new Prius brands, in addition to the third generation of its flagship Prius vehicle. The classic Prius is priced anywhere between $22,800 and the low $30,000 range, a Toyota product specialist said.
Toyota is launching the Prius V this summer. It’s a larger, family car. It’s electric, but not a plug-in. The company is also launching another Prius concept car.

“It’s a fun-to-drive city vehicle and the lowest price point,” the product specialist said.

Toyota is also introducing another electric vehicle, called the PHV, in early 2012. It’s a plug-in electric vehicle that can go 13 miles on a single charge. After that it will run as a regular hybrid. There’s no pricing yet on these models.
One other thing McElroy noticed at the show this year: Low-gloss paint jobs on three different cars. “You notice it right away,” he said. “I liked it. I liked it a lot, but how do you repair it? It requires a different technology.”

McElroy said this new paint showed up on a couple of Mercedes models and a Hyundai Veloster. He said this type of paint job will be expensive to have repaired in the event of a collision, but doesn’t matter much because the cars are expensive anyway.