Covering the New York International Auto Show was awe inspiring, even though you could feel the tension in the air surrounding the industry in these very dark and turbulent times. If you were a casual observer walking into the front enterance of the Jacob Javitts Convention Center, you couldn't help but marvel at the sights and sounds of the place, from the din of music, and conversation happening everywhere, to the sheer number of flat panel displays hanging seemingly all over the place. All this before you even walk into the assembly hall with each manufacturer showcasing an endless number of models, some on revolving turntables, others with huge, brightly lit signs behind them, and most of them with open doors welcoming you into their sumptuous

As many of you know, I was covering the New York International Auto Show, and it was truly breathtaking to take part in such an event. This was like some kind of dream, because I remember reading about the event in the pages of Car and Driver, Road & Track, and even CAR. This is the type of show the manufacturers debut their concepts, or introduce their brand new production ready models. With these introductions, there is the usual staging extras like a car draped with an appropriately colored silk cover, background lighting, smoke machines, and sometimes musicians. This year, most of the manufacturers had some kind of opulent stage performance. What was surprising however, was the number of manufacturers that didn't. Most of the

This was my first New York International Auto Show that I attended with press credentials, and I tried to take full advantage of it. The following are some of the (over 200) images I was able to capture. The idea of this posting is to show you, the reader, how exciting it is to attend a major consumer auto show, either in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Geneva, Tokyo, or London. The cars, the lights, the girls, and the experience are all spectacular. Without further ado, images from New York....

This posting is a bit late because I'm knackered from running around on the floor of the New Your International Auto Show, but I promised you a couple of significant debuts that happened today, and so here they are: The first major debut was from Subaru, with the new 2010 Outback Wagon. Subaru stated that they were the top brand within the US so far in 2009. So with the introduction of the Legacy and the Outback models, Subaru is in a strong position to weather the current market conditions, with some of the most loyal core buyers in the industry. The Outback will offer two different “boxer” style engines; a 2.5L, fuel injected flat four producing 170HP, and a new 3.6Lflat six producing 256

Well, it a wrap for today, and I thought I'd do a recap of some of the other debuts that happened today. I was over at the Subaru display area, and their new Legacy took the stage, in three different versions. They include the 4 cylinder 2.5i available with a new CVT transmission, the 2.5GT that receives a 265HP turbocharged engine, and the 3.6R with a new, more powerful, 256HP flat six. The Legacy itself, celebrating 20 years as a nameplate, competes with the much larger mid-sized vehicles in it's class like the Camry and the Accord. While Subaru was introducing their Legacy, Volkswagen has introduced the new GTI and Golf models. The Golf will introduce a 2 liter TDI clean diesel with 140HP and

Well, it's now time to get to work defining the sights and sounds of the NYIAS for 2009. My initial impression was overwhelming, but after I caught my breath, it was also a bit disappointing. Why? Because the number of debuts have been lackluster, because of the general Malaise that the Auto Industry is currently in right now. However, I will try and bring you, the reader, up to speed. One of the first debuts this morning was the Mercedes-Benz ML 450 Hybrid, a car designed for the US and Canadian Markets only. It is a conventional Gas/Electric Hybrid, that produces 335 HP, and 381 lb/ft torque. According to Mercedes, is uses 50% less fuel than their conventional ML series. Also on stage was the debut

Well, I'm here at the New York International Auto Show, broadcasting to you from the Press Room. It's all electric here, and the excitement (at least for me) is exciting. Throughout the day, I will be bringing you some of the highlights of the show. Lets start off with a picture of the Media Center, and it's all set up with wireless internet access, and all sorts of "swag", so that positive press can be generated. I decided to skip the Breakfast introduction so that I could wander around unencumbered on the show floor. This is from the first News Conference was for Mercedes-Benz, and they introduced their new Hybrid for the States and Canada Only. It's the ML450 Gasoline Electric Hybrid. More info to

In Honor of the pending merger between Chrysler and Fiat, I though it was time to showcase other Italianate Chrysler’s that have been built and sold.. The Chrysler TC came about as the result of collaboration between Chrysler and Maserati, an arrangement rooted in the friendship of the charismatic men in charge of the two companies, Lee Iacocca and his friend Alejandro de Tomaso. Lee Iacocca started a friendship with Alejandro de Tomaso while at Ford, which led to the successful De Tomaso Pantera. The collaboration was perhaps ahead of its time, with the low-volume Maserati providing its image and tuning expertise, and the high-volume Chrysler providing its engineering and sales capabilities. The basic idea was to add some glamor to Chrysler, and some profit

There is a special event tonight, the unvieling of the new Nissan 370Z Convertible, along with a couple of NISMO versions, and I hope to bring it to you later this evening. The above image is a low resolution version released to the press, so we shall see if it looks as good as I hope it will. The 370Z Coupe was an instant performance upgrade from the 350Z, with taunt styling, and better handling, and the same should hold true for the new drop top. I'm currently on my way to New York to cover the New York International Auto Show, so stay tuned. I will do my best at keeping you, the reader up to date with everything that is relevant. Let me

For a while there, it looked like Volkswagen was about to make a decision on when to introduce the new Scirocco to the US, though there wasn't any word from corporate yet. That all changed, as Autoblog broke the story on Monday, and it's not good news for the rabid VW enthusiast here in the States. Accordingly, Volkswagen of America's own public relations coordinator, Tom Wegehaupt, gave an on-the-record confirmation that the Scirocco is not destined for these shores. There are fears that this car will cannibalize any future sales of the new GTI, and that the US market will deteriorate further. So it looks like there isn't a suitable business case for this particular model. This seems to be a case of very