Sue & I took this holiday weekend to head north to Detroit to the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS). While it was a nice little adventure something started to dawn on me as we wandered the exhibit hall… I may not be as much of a “car geek” as I thought. For a lot of the show I was kind of bored… yes, bored. A little history first- This is maybe the third auto show I have attended. The first was the Indianapolis Auto Show years (and years) ago. We were looking at buying a new car and walked around seeing nothing that we wanted. The second was the Chicago Auto Show. This one was special- Sue was working with a non-profit that had an event in conjunction with the show so we attended the black tie preview party. Yes, I was running around in a tux with my Nikon snapping photos. This was the introduction to the MINI R56 and we spent a lot of time at the MINI display, but wandered around to see the other manufacturers. It seemed like there was a larger variety at the show, but most of the cars looked pretty much the same. That brings us to NAIAS- this is supposed to be the biggie, the Mother of all auto shows. Meh. I don’t know if it was the lack of unique designs being displayed or what but I couldn’t get excited over most of what I saw- this was when the realization hit me- I’m not a car geek. I can’t quote stats from various automakers. I’m a MINI geek. Sue I and hung out at the MINI display, chatted with folks there and took a bunch of pictures of the concept/pre-production R60 they had on display. The Beachcomber (as it is called) was a homage to the classic Moke- so no doors or top. Because of this they decided to do it up on a black sand beach and have a triathlon theme to it. I’m not an SUV/crossover fan. In fact I have never understood why most Americans need a military assault vehicle to go to the grocery or get their pedicure. That said while this is bigger than an traditional New MINI (4m in length) I could see myself owning one. With geocaching, Sue and I have taken our MINIs in places they probably should never have gone. I recall Way (of Way Motor Works) doing some work on Penfold (my MINI Cooper S) and asking about the thousands of grass seeds trapped under the car. Last year when attending the Moonshine event we got lost (yes, but we knew exactly where we were… we had a GPS) and took Sue’s MINI on these back roads that even with a rally heritage made me cringe. So as we continue to cache I can see the need for an all-wheel drive slightly higher off the ground vehicle. So, I spend the day at the auto show and scratch my head at what is being passed as “innovation” and focus on a MINI – go figure.
One other things I did notice while walking around was the difference between MINI and the majority of the other manufacturers. MINI had folks wandering around in t-shirts fleece jackets & jeans- very casual. The other displays were a lot more formal even with models posing near the cars (which you couldn’t get close enough to touch- the car or the model). This made me kind of chuckle as I saw how they worked the demographics. The really expensive cars if they had a model the model was young basically pushing the 18-30 year old male attendees buttons. They never said a word and just smiled for the camera. One American automaker still had the model with her prepared script talking about the car as it spun on the lazy susan. This automaker while having made attempts to drop it’s “grandmother’s car image” had models that would appeal to the male over 50 demographic, not that they weren’t attractive but I could just imagine some 30 year old looking at this model and saying “Mom?” Have these manufacturers changed they way they show off their cars since the first auto show- it doesn’t look like it (and they may still be using the same models to present them).
One last word about innovation or something that makes me go “huh?” All these American car companies who just a few years ago whined about they couldn’t make anything more fuel efficient and that are still whining any time Congress tries to increase the required fuel efficiency of cars in the U.S. were all talking about how many miles per gallon their models got – which for some wasn’t anything to be proud of.
So there you have it – I’m a MINI geek. Still lots to learn, but I’m happy to know where I stand. Time to go motoring (& caching)