The North American International Auto Show opened to the general public Saturday, amid great fanfare but thin crowds, as onlookers had plenty of time and space to inspect the new merchandise.
The big auto show has succeeded in drawing interest from as far away as Buffalo, New York, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and London, Ontario, in nearby Canada. But the crowds were relatively sparse, compared to years past.
"Usually when we show up at 9:00 am, you can't walk through the lobby," said one of the models presenting information at the show, who asked not to be identified but who has worked at past auto shows in Detroit. "This year we could just walk right in," she said.
"On a normal opening day, you wouldn't be able to move down the aisles, but just look around you," she said, gesturing towards the relatively small crowds at what was traditionally billed as North America's most important auto show. The Detroit Auto Dealers Association, the show's primary organiser, acknowledged that only 7,000 guests turned out, a steep drop from the 12,000 guests that came for the annual Friday night preview in 2008 when the US auto industry was in somewhat better financial condition.
Only hours before the charity preview began, the US Treasury Department had loaned Chrysler Financial LLC 1.5 billion dollars to improve its liquidity.
Comments
Comments are closed.