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May 12, 2006
Estimating buyers' interest
Car manufacturers show off their new ideas at recent auto show.
VERONIKA STEWART
The 2006 Vancouver International Auto Show last month boasted more
concept cars than ever, but representatives from the industry said
few of the cars will hit the market in their original form.
"It kind of varies," said GM representative Tony LaRocca.
"There are some concepts that come out and they're very future-oriented
and they kind of give a glimpse of some of the styling or technologies
or features that you might see way down the road. Some are literally
just that. They're studies and they're never going to see the light
of day, whereas others are much more specifically looking at what
a vehicle that will likely soon come into production is going to
look like."
LaRocca cited the Saturn Aura shown at the Auto Show at B.C. Place
as one of GM's recent innovations that will, in fact, be on sale
soon.
"The Saturn Aura concept that we showed in Vancouver is going
to be a production car later this summer. The production car will
look very similar to, not identical, but very similar to the concept
car that you saw there."
As well as concepts that offer a look into the future, the show
also included cars that take their designs from past automotive
trends, like the Camaro concept from GM and the Ford Shelby Cobra
– both big hits at the show.
"Camaro is interesting. It's got a bit of a retro look to it.
It harkens back to the 1969 era of Camaros, but it's also a very
futuristic looking vehicle. This is not a pure retro car by any
stretch," LaRocca said. "What I like is that people my
age who knew Camaros growing up love it, but my son who's 15, for
example, doesn't know Camaro, because it hasn't existed now for
a few years, but he loves the car. So it's got great appeal to older
generations ... but also great appeal to younger generations."
There is no promise, however, that the Camaro displayed will make
it to a dealership near you.
"The Camaro concept at the show is up in the air," said
LaRocca. "It isn't in our production plans currently. No decision
has been made yet about whether we will ultimately build the car,
but we're gauging customer reaction and looking at the business
case. Stay tuned, who knows?"
Daniel Labre, a representative from Daimler Chrysler, said even
though a reaction to a concept may be good, there needs to be a
business plan behind it for it to be feasible for the company.
"Sometimes only parts of a concept vehicle could be used for
a production vehicle," Labre said. "The vehicle per se
may not be for production ... but parts of that technology might
eventually show up in a vehicle."
The Dodge Nitro and Jeep Rescue were two ideas from Chrysler shown
at the event. Jeep Rescue has failed to make it past the conceptual
stages, while the Dodge Nitro will likely be in production as a
2007 model.
Ford boasted two concept cars at the show - the Model U and the
Shelby Cobra concept.
Customer reaction to the vehicles indicates whether or not vehicles
make it to the market, said Ford representative Christine Hollander.
"With the Shelby Cobra, we had a lot of success and it impressed
a lot of people," Hollander said. She added that the hydrogen-fuelled
Model U vehicle has technologies more likely to surface in future
cars.
"There are a lot of different technologies used in our concept
cars," Hollander said, referring to five Ford Focus models
sent to Vancouver last year. "Like the panels are made out
of soy, it's recyclable and it shows all the different things we
can do technologically to vehicles. Some are viable, and some are
just for testing."
Veronika Stewart is a freelance writer living in Vancouver.
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