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Automotive Consumer
GOLFEN: Auto Show Reflects State Of Industry
Regional Arizona event contracts as troubled automakers scale back their offerings,
Bob Golfen  |  Posted November 28, 2009   Phoenix, AZ
The annual Arizona Auto Show in Phoenix is a fairly minor event, especially compared with the big-dog U.S. shows in Detroit, Los Angeles or New York.

Those high-powered shows are where new models and concept cars are revealed to the nation, with all the hype and media exposure they can drum up. Phoenix is a second-tier show designed basically to show off new cars and trucks to potential customers, but it’s always good fun.

Since Phoenix has grown into a pretty big city and a huge market for the automakers, even our smaller show has a certain amount of juice and attracts some crowd-pleasing features. In recent years, the extravagant expansion of the Phoenix Convention Center has helped boost the image of the auto show, held over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Although this year, the AZ auto show reflects the deeply troubled state of the auto industry. Like the industry it represents, the auto show has contracted and cut back on the frills.

Wife Marci tries on a custom Smart convertible for size at the Arizona Auto Show. (Photo: Bob Golfen)
In the past, there were always some recently unveiled concept cars and upcoming new models, with enough buzz and excitement to get the crowds psyched up. But this year, not so much, with no concept cars and few future cars or trucks to admire.

The four-day 2009 AZ show is less of a celebration and more of a straight-up gathering of new car and truck models that are now available in showrooms. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, with thousands of spectators crowding through to check out and compare the automakers’ offerings. It’s just not all that the show used to be.

With their displays, the automakers seem to be saying: We’re here to get people to buy cars and trucks, not wow them with great possibilities.

There are a few special attractions, such as Jeep’s huge display that includes rides through a pretty cool indoor obstacle course, Land Rover style. It’s a major highlight of the auto show and consistently commands a long waiting line.

There are ride-and-drives of the new Chevy Camaro and Equinox through Phoenix streets, as well as the upcoming Ford Fiesta compact that is being marketed with youth-oriented social-networking.

But for car buffs, the pickings are slim. The Scottsdale Penske dealerships display a collection of exotic Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Aston Martins, Bentleys and such, and a local MG club has a nice grouping of restored TCs, TDs and MGAs.

Ford has its new off-road superstar, the F-150 Raptor, among its display cars, and Hyundai is showing an actual rally race car based on the Genesis Coupe.

But there’s not much else to whet the appetite of even a peripheral car fanatic.

Some big car brands are missing in action, notably Nissan and Mercedes-Benz. Saab, which just lost its chance of being purchased by supercar builder Koenigsegg, is also absent as are GM’s doomed Pontiac and Saturn divisions, naturally.

Last year, the AZ show was a solemn affair, coming as it did in the teeth of the financial collapse. This year, the scaled-back nature of today’s auto industry was apparent, showing less confidence and more pragmatism. But also some rays of hope.

Next week, the Los Angeles auto show opens, then the big Detroit show in January. Let’s hope those major events are able to present a stronger face of the auto industry than does our little Phoenix show.

Hopefully, by next Thanksgiving the auto industry will return to something resembling normalcy, and the 2010 Arizona show will be back to the full-scale fun event it has been in the past.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Bob Golfen, Automotive Editor for SPEEDtv.com, is a veteran auto writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, who has driven and evaluated essentially every new vehicle sold in the United States. A lifelong car enthusiast with a passion for collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle, he annually attends and writes about Arizona's famous January collector-car auctions, focusing on Scottsdale’s monumental Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event. SPEEDtv.com fans email veteran Automotive Editor Bob Golfen at

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