New York International Auto Show 2008 Opens

The 2008 New York International Auto Show, the nation's best-attended auto show, opens Wednesday morning at Manhattan's Jacob Javits Convention Center -- as always, designed to sell cars but this year amid worsening economic times and spiraling fuel prices.


More than 4,000 media representatives from around the world are expected at 24 splashy news conferences over the next two days to launch the New York International Automobile Show.


It will begin with a speech by the head one of the most troubled of carmakers: chairman and chief executive Robert Nardelli of Chrysler, who announced last week he'd shut down his company for two weeks in July to reduce costs.


More than a million tire kickers are expected to stroll Javits' 846,000 square feet of exhibit space while the event is open to the public, from Friday morning through March 30. Last year's attendance was 1.2 million.


The 2008 NY Auto Show contributed an estimated $181 million to the area's economy in 2006, the last year for which a figure is available, said president Mark Schienberg of the hosting Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association. Based on advance ticket sales and hits on the show's Web site, he says, attendance could top last year's.


"Our numbers are better going into the show than they were before," he said Tuesday. Industry experts and dealers say that, while auto shows cost the carmakers millions to set up and staff, they're worth the expense.


"It's hard to quantify, like any merchandising, but I think it kind of kicks off our spring and summer selling season," said Brett Saslow, president of Smith Haven Chrysler Jeep and Dodge and Saturn of Smithtown, both located in St. James.


Jack Nerad, executive editorial director and market analyst for the Kelley Blue Book, which operates the auto information Web site kbb.com, says that, even in the Internet age, there's value in having potential buyers see the new models in person.


He said, "There's something about... having them experience that car up close and personal -- the new car smell, the shiny paint. The ambience of the whole show, I think, still builds excitement and gets peoples' hearts pumping."


The industry can surely use a boost. Market researchers J.D. Power and Associates, for example, predicted Tuesday that new vehicle sales nationally this year would be the weakest since 1994 -- under 15 million cars and trucks, because of "declining consumer confidence and spending, as well as turbulent financial and economic market conditions."


While some of the more than 1,000 cars and trucks from 20 manufacturers at Javits reflect that reality, others party like it's 1999.


New models include the redesigned Honda Fit subcompact and Toyota Corolla compact, new gasoline/electric hybrid SUVs and pickups from General Motors and Chrysler and 50-state legal "clean" diesel versions of three Mercedes SUVs, with urea injection to the exhaust streams to filter soot.


Ford will be showing off an experimental taxicab that gets 30 percent better fuel economy than the ubiquitous Crown Victoria and a car smaller than its Focus, expected in showrooms in 2010.


Other experimental cars on display are powered by various combinations of hydrogen fuel cells, diesel generators and electric motors.


But the new offerings also include Mercedes' 518 hp., premium-gas guzzling SL63 AMG roadster, the 600-plus hp. Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1, the 425 hp. Dodge Challenger muscle car, the 414 hp. BMW M3 convertible, a 550 hp. Cadillac CTS, a 400 hp. Pontiac G8 sedan and a redesigned, 381 hp. Toyota Sequoia full size SUV.

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