By Mike Antonick, Author of Corvette Black Book -  What has happened to the auto industry worldwide since the closing months of 2008 and how it all meshes with Corvette, Chevrolet, General Motors and the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit is worth a quick look back before we get into 2010 NAIAS specifics.

Corvettes and Camaro - Photo by Mike Antonick

The 2008 NAIAS was a great event for Chevy and GM. Remember the timing…January 2008. The long-awaited Corvette ZR1 made its show debut. Chevy had shown the car to select media a few months earlier, so multiple car magazines had it on their covers coinciding with the NAIAS unveiling. AutoWeek editors voted the ZR1 Best of Show. Best Concept went to the Cadillac CTS coupe. The Chevy Malibu got NAIAS Car of the Year, as voted by a panel of automotive writers. Chevrolet had a super cutaway of the ZR1 chassis and another of ZR1’s supercharged LS9 motor. Despite the awards success and the quality of GM’s overall display, I wrote at the time that this show didn’t have the glitz of previous years, that it felt more subdued, an apparent sign of the times.

Think back. Early 2008 was already showing signs of a weakening economy driven in part by skyrocketing oil prices. But few had any clue of what the economic gods had in store for us in the months to come.

Now flash forward one year to the 2009 NAIAS, January 2009. President-elect Obama was waiting to be sworn in, along with a raft of new senators and representatives. The world economy had sustained devastating blows in the last quarter of 2008, triggered by teetering US financial giants who’d leveraged themselves to the gills with sub prime mortgage instruments. US stock markets lost more than a decade’s gains. Auto sales tanked for virtually all brands, but GM and Chrysler were especially hard hit and their credit lines evaporated. A few years before, Ford had been in the worst shape of the three, but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it prompted Ford to offer its major assets to secure credit lines when credit was still available. GM and Chrysler were hemorrhaging red ink so profusely that both would be bled dry by year’s end without government assistance. The lame duck Bush administration punted the mess forward by using some of the first Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to fund GM and Chrysler far enough into 2009 to give the new administration time to come up with something.

This was the backdrop for the 2009 NAIAS in Detroit. Grim. Several manufacturers pulled out completely. GM and Chrysler, on government life support and their executives having just been raked over the coals in Washington, were in no mood for extravagance. I’ve attended this show for many years and and it has always had an ebb and flow with some manufacturers up, some down. But in January 2009, none had anything to celebrate.

As 2009 wore on, first Chrysler then GM were ushered through prepackaged bankruptcies with GM emerging on June 1st. GM CEO Rick Wagoner was shown the door. His right-hand-man, Fritz Henderson, took over. In time, he too was forced out by GM’s newly constituted Board of Directors. The Board put its own new Director, Ed Whitacre, into the CEO position. Mr. Whitacre, though not a “car guy,” had retired from AT&T which he’d led with much success.

Pontiac and Saturn bit the dust. Hummer was sold to a Chinese company. Saab was in limbo. Opel was sold, then unsold, as GM ’s new Board decided to try to make a go of it. Too much cutting-edge technology to lose at bargain-basement prices.

It hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for Corvette as its 2009 sales took a 48% whack, making 2009 production lowest since 1997. And 1997 didn’t suffer from lack of demand, but from the late and slow production rampup of that all-new model. Take out 1997 and one has to go back to 1962 for lower volume than 2009’s 16,956 units. But Corvette’s still here. In fact, the Corvette team added interim 2009 models, the Competition Sport and Championship GT1. And for 2010, along came the Grand Sports.

So that’s where we stood for this year’s January 2010 NAIAS. And the verdict is…

Much improved. Still a far cry from the good old days, but substantially better than last year. GM is on its own again…sort of. The government loaned GM about $6-billion which GM plans to repay this year. But it, meaning we the taxpayers, also took a roughly $50-billion equity stake in the company. The idea is that once GM is on its feet and making money again, it will have a public stock offering. Once the stock value is high enough to recover the equity stake, the government sells, puts the loot back into the treasury, and GM is genuinely independent again. As someone who joined GM’s student co-op engineering program in 1965, I’m planning to hoist a tall one that day. It can’t come too soon.

So GM still isn’t in a position to try to out-sizzle the competition at shows with fancy displays, wild concepts or gourmet media munchies. It had a nice, simple floor layout showing its current and near-future offerings. Unfortunately, the Corvette impact was minimal. A 2010 ZR1 was shown alongside a 2010 Grand Sport convertible. Next to these were two 2010 Camaros, all four cars with gray exteriors. Gray and silver are popular show colors, I guess because they photograph well under the lights. But I’d have opted for some livelier hues.

2010 Grand Sport Convertible - Photo by Mike Antonick

Though GM has some strong new product, it missed on awards. I figured the Chevy Equinox would take North American Truck of the Year, but it lost in a close vote to the Ford Transit Connect, a nifty little Turkish-built utility van. The North American Car of the Year went to the Ford Fusion Hybrid. Haven’t driven one, but reviews rave about it, so Ford appears to have a winner there, too.

AutoWeek liked Ford as well, its editors voting the 2012 Focus as NAIAS Most Significant. I agree and will be shocked if this car doesn’t do well. Chevy’s Cobalt replacement, the Cruise, should also compete strongly in this segment, but I think the Focus has the styling edge.

Audi and Volkswagen led this show with brightly lit, exquisitely presented displays. Their cars were cutting edge as well. AutoWeek voted the Audi E-tron Best of Show, and the VW New Compact Coupe Best Concept, both good choices. I especially liked the VW which is rumored be a dead-ringer for a production Jetta coupe planned for production in Mexico and sales here. It is a beautifully proportioned, elegant design with less of the interior claustrophobia than my personal show favorite. And that is?

The Cadillac CTS coupe. The standard version with the same direct-injection V6 as the Camaro was unveiled earlier this year at the Los Angeles show. The CTS-V variant, with its 556-hp, Corvette-derived supercharged power plant, made its first public appearance at the 2010 NAIAS.

Either one will do fine. Make mine Torch Red with six-speed manual and the Recaro seat option.

By Dan Pepper, Publisher, Corvettes.com –

Back in February, CorvetteBlogger.com featured a piece on a 1963 Corvette split window coupe that was spotted on Google’s Street View application. The Corvette clearly is worse for wear from sitting exposed to the elements over the years – it’s not even covered by a tarp, let alone comprehensive or liability auto insurance. For true vintage Corvette enthusiasts, this sight is akin to PETA members being forced to watch the latest harvest of baby harp seals. As you can see below, the car is most likely too far gone to save. Makes you wonder; why wasn’t this beauty saved decades earlier?

Like a bad dream, the vision of this classic crumbling back into the earth from whence it came continued to haunt me. That’s why when perusing a March, 1991 back issue of Vette Magazine, the photo featured in it’s “Finito” column looked eerily familiar. As you can see by the photo below, even though the the picture was taken almost 20 years ago, its the same car – only the degree of disintegration and junk stacked around it has changed.

Troubling as it may be, we can all rest assured that hundreds hopeful enthusiasts have tendered offers to purchase the car over preceding decades, and that every single one has been sent packing. Typically, the only way classic cars like this change hands is an estate sale or on the steps of the county courthouse.

To sum it up, pride of ownership means something different to each of us. Obviously, the owner of this car loves it too much to let anyone else have it. Sadly, from the looks of it, no one else ever will.

By Mike Antonick, Author of Corvette Black Book.

The best quote I’ve read describing the media days at this year’s North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) held at Detroit’s Cobo Arena appeared in USA Today’s January 13th, 2009 edition. It quoted AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson saying, “I’ve been to funerals with more smiles.”

Before I give you my personal impressions of NAIAS 2009, especially GM’s contibution, let me generalize what has happened in previous years.

Auto companies court media in many ways I’ll not get into here, but the beauty of a big auto show like NAIAS from their perspective is that thousands of automotive journalists from around the globe present themselves as a captive audience to hear and see what the industry has to offer. This year’s show opened to the media on January 11th, six days before it was open to the public. Manufacturers schedule press conferences to introduce new products or to elaborate on any number of issues. Excellent food has often been a staple of these events. It’s not that car companies are trying to bribe journalists (perhaps a little); it has simply evolved as a courtesy. After all, the writers or their employers have picked up the transportation and lodging tab, so auto companies have historically taken it upon themselves to see to it that journalists have been fed and pampered a bit while doing their reporting.

If this show was indicative, those days are gone. GM historically provided an excellent buffet lunch on the second level of its floor display. This year there was no second floor and not one morsel of food or drink was offered up by GM. In light of the smackdown administered by our sainted congressional members over corporate jet usage by the Big Three’s executives, now way was GM going to expose itself to more charges of extravagance at taxpayers’ expense. This was one subdued and lean presentation. A new day, indeed.

Don’t misunderstand. Yummy food is a nice perk, but unimportant. Roger Penske’s Smart Car folks did serve up itty-bitty finger food. That and numerous espresso stations kept me going fine. I mention the food purely as a metaphor for the show overall.

For starters, six manufacturers didn’t even display. Ferrari, Land Rover, Nissan (and Infinity), Mitsubishi, Rolls-Royce, and Suzuki were no-shows. Part of this first-floor void was taken by Chinese manufacturers, relegated to the lower basement level last year. And some space was just vacant, though I suspect that was addressed somehow before opening to the public.

General Motors kicked-off the press schedule with its 10AM presentation on Sunday, January 11th, and followed that with another at the same time the following morning.

As to Corvette and Camaro news covered in these events, I’ll sum it up this way. Nothing. Not a word. We’ve all read that the Corvette C7 is on hold. For that matter most future GM vehicle programs are on hold, except Volt and Camaro. GM has sued a bankrupt vendor, Cadence Innovation LLC, for parts and equipment needed for the Camaro’s interior. A GM representative at the show told me that there were a few small glitches being sorted out, but overall Camaro production will be fine. The Camaro should be one bright spot for GM in 2009. In the right color and trim, this car is spectacular. It deserves to be a knockout hit. Two Camaros were on display at NAIAS, a silver RS coupe, and a “Black” concept. The latter was shown at SEMA and is tricked out with parts mostly available from Chevy dealers.

One Corvette was on display, a Blade Silver ZR1. Chevrolet has tended to show the ZR1 in either Jetstream Blue or new-for-2009 Cyber Gray, so I was surprised to see how good the car looked in Blade Silver. It contrasts beautifully with the ZR1’s exposed carbon fiber. Still, this gem got little attention, a stark contrast with its rock star status the previous year.

GM used its press conference to introduce new products rolling into showrooms this year, including the 2010 Buick LaCrosse, 2010 Chevy Equinox, 2010 Cadillac SRX crossover, and the 2010 Cadillac CTS Sportswagon. No sign of last year’s sensational CTS coupe. Another one on hold, I guess. Europeans like wagons. Americans generally don’t, so I hope the CTS Sportwagon can buck the trend. Reports indicate it will be available with a six-speed manual… rare and welcome in this category.

The second press conference was devoted to the Volt. In these times, this is GM’s obvious halo car. GM’s Rick Wagoner announced plans to make the Volt’s battery units in Michigan from lithium ion cells sourced from Korea’s LG Chem. Toyota used this show for the introduction of the 2010 Prius, and Honda did likewise with its Prius-fighter, the Insight. The 2010 Prius is the model’s third generation and it looked impressive. Honda’s Insight, while aimed at the Prius, is lower content with lower price. The Volt comes in above both in terms of capability and, unfortunately, cost. Although the production Volt is far less dramatic than the original show car concept, to my eye it is the best looking of the trio. All three are four-door hatchbacks with aerodynamics dictating similarly tall rear ends.

My personal favorite this year was the Cadillac Converj. Think of it as a wider version of last year’s CTS coupe, but with the Volt drivetrain for social correctness. Autoweek picked it as their best concept. Their best of show, by the way, was the Audi Sportback. Their most significant was the 2010 Ford Taurus. I can’t argue with any of their selections.

Like most citizens, I’ve tried to make sense of the country’s economic mess. Like most car enthusiasts, I’ve tried to think through how the auto companies will emerge once the dust settles. The situation is so fluid that any conclusion I reach is rendered useless with the next day’s news. So I’ll just say that while General Motors has certainly made its share of mistakes, anyone who suggests it doesn’t know how to build a word-class product need look no further than the Corvette.

Mike Antonick’s photos of the 2009 NAIAS can be found in the Corvettes.com Gallery.