Report from the 2009 Washington Auto Show

A recent news article in the Washington Post, commenting about the current political and economic developments in th eworld made a very accurate and astute observation about the times that we live. Namely, that despite the calender year of "2009," the new Millinium really started last year. Up unti then, things were essentially a careover from the 20th Century. If you meditate on that for a minute, that is true.

Especially in the last few months, we've seen a change of U.S. Presidents and Adminstrations that are remarkably different from one another, vast changes in the financial markets, swings in oil prices, rising unemployment, and strange weather. In other words, things aren't what they used to be. We are transitioning to a new century, new paradigms, and new patterns of how we live, work, and buy.

This was evident at this year's 2009 Auto Show, held as before at the Walter E. Washington convention Center in Washington, DC. Although similiar to events of years past, there were, like our times, some striking differences to be seen in product and presentation.

Naturally, there was a big emphesis on 'going green' by most of the manufacturers present. Despite what the news says about the US Big Three Automakers woes, General Motors had perhps the most impressive display of product at the show. The new Chevy Volt was and is an absolute sensation, and is indicative of the future not only of car design and engineering, but of style and assembly technique. Sleek, truly aerodynamic with flush flush glass, and a state of the art electric propolsion system, the Volt had huge crowds surronding it--more than any other cars at the show.

Walking the show, it was evident that ee are on the cusp of the old world school of auto manufacturing and the new, and the cues were evident everywhere. Here are some examples of the "old-school new-school" of autos."

Old School

• Inner door panels have metal wrapped around with visible seams and welds
• Large or uneven gaps in body panels and interior trim
• Windshields with rubber moldings around them glued in place
• Cheap looking molded interior pieces, dash boards, and side panels that appear tacked on
• Clunky, older engines with messy underhood wiring and tubing
• A discernable lack of "cool" (see New School below)
• Lack luster paint finishes and/or colors
• Non integrated audio/navigation/entertainment systems
• Ordinary looking glass
• Generally a "car by department" approach to assembly

NEW School

• Inner door metal and body frames are perfectly smooth with no seams
• Tight manufacturing clearances in all interior and exterior body parts
• Glass that looks part of one smooth design
• Organically designed and ergonomicly functional and beautiful interios with excellent tactile feel
• Modern engines that are unitarian with their respective chassis and body (stress members)
• Cool features like IPod jacks, mood lighting in kicksills, side panels, and footwells, glass roof panels, pop up screens and/or projected dash board information centers, luminisent dashboards
• 100 Point paint jobs and extremely new, innovative colors
• Full integrated audio/navigation/entertainment systems
• Glass that was both glossy, transparently optical, and slick looking (!)
• An overall design approach that tied together all the style and engineering aspects of the cars.

Some manufacturers got it right on, others did not, and there were some surprises as well as disappointments.

Overall, surprisingly, GM did a great job with their overall line. A lot of their product fell into as previously mentioned, the New School category, but the older SUVs and trucks were/are clearly of the old world way of stamping and welding metal. Ford was 50-50: some cars were state of the art, others as old as their forefathers of years past could/can be. Not to embarass themselves, but the (currently still offered) Mercury Grand Marquis and cloned Crown Victoria were no where to be seen. All Chryslers (with the exception of the 300 Sedan) was a mess, with almost all their cars, including their showcar Daytona showing a long in the tooth approach to car manufacturing. If any company will/should go out of business, it should be Chysler.

Mercedes had a bevy of uncountable various models, and their stand was packed. Long on style, but short on value or innovation, the MBs seem to still be riding on reputation. Audi, as in years past, show perhaps the best overall product line for quality, style, innovation, and technology.

Honda, although not #1 in sales, perhaps is the best overall company out there, with jewel like precision products that quietly get better and better each year. Toyota is not far behind, and their display was by far the biggest of the show. Most interesting? Scion had their boxy little cars suspended two stories in the air on giant shelves, like colorful Christmas boxes. VW got an A+ for a brilliantly modern and slick platform, and featured a rising star, the new VW "CC". BMW continues to systematically improve their line, with the vaulted 3-Series refined and grommed yet ever more with terrific build quaility. The 5-Series and 7-Series, while well made cars, lack the panache and style of Jaguar.

Losers? Once innovative Saab and Volvo, while still looking modern, seemed to be cosmetically presenting an old world of stamp and weld technologies. Ditto Suburu's usual quirky cars.

The big surpise was the Hyundai Genesis--a brilliant effort at any price. It matches Lexus for over $10,000 less and is superbly made. The only thing it lacked was interior accent wood, which leads to another interesting observation.

The idea of wood in automobiles, as traditional and upscale as that seems, is starting to look like a curious careover from the 1900's. The absurdity of this was most evident in the half hearted Rolls, Bentley and Aston display, where it appeared that seemingly whole forests were used to line the interiors of automobiles that externally were SUV like in their girth. What wasn't planked over, was slobbered with leather. In it's day, such expressions were the epitome of wealth, class, and status. But in an iPod/Blackberry world, it seemed stuffy and old fashioned. Don't be surprised that the new status symbol of the future is not wood as much as would. That is, "what would this car do for my life if I bought it?" The future is moving towards technology wrapped in style, rather than style wrapped in status.

This is not to say that the wood in the Jags, Mercedes, and Audis looked out of place--not at all. But that as the state of design and transportation moves into an electric future, interior wood is starting to look to the modern eye like running boards and spilt windshields started to look 50 or so years ago, in otherwords, a throw back to another era and time.

Of course, being a Jaguar publication (Lyons Tales) where was Jaguar in the mix? There is good and bad news to report.

First the bad...the Jaguar display, right next to the bottom feeding Kia nameplate, was the most plain-jane of all the displays of the show, with a simple blue (convention center provided??) carpet that was a little lumpy in spots (just like Kia.) Jaguar isn't going to wow the silver spoon set with a plastic and styrofoam display. Is this what we can expect from the new Indian owners?? Other than a very pretty and impressive leaper on top of a faux granite tower, it was nothing much to look at, however product wise, the Hoi Polloi ogled and (Googled?) over the XKs, XJs, and X/S-Tyes on hand as much or more than almost any other manufacturer at the show. No doubt, despite humble surroundings, the beauty and design of the product shone through. Yet despite it's small market imprint and unimpressive presentation, it appears that Jags are still liked, loved, and lusted for by the general population. Now if they could just sell more!

If you missed this year's show, check it out in 2010. It should be, literally, electric!