Automakers put on a brave face in N.Y.

Roland Jones • Profile • E-mail

With the U.S. auto industry likely going through its worst period in history, surely this is the worst possible time to throw a party for the world’s top automakers.

But in the best New York Broadway tradition, the show must go on.

Starting this Friday, over 1 million visitors are expected to pour into Manhattan’s Jacob Javits Convention Center during the 10 days of the 2009 New York auto show to see as automakers unveil 35 new vehicles. The show is the nation’s oldest and usually the best-attended of the year.

It’s taking place as two big automakers — General Motors and Chrysler — teeter on the edge of bankruptcy, credit remains tight as a clam, the jobless rate is at a 26-year high and Americans are in no mood to plunk down thousands of dollars on a new car. U.S. car sales are at their lowest level in three decades.

Still, the automakers have little choice but to grit their teeth, show their wares and try to get buyers interested in cars again, said Aaron Bragman, an auto analyst with consultancy IHS Global Insight.

“Automakers have the immediate challenge of restructuring their businesses, but the other challenge they face is to get people buying cars and trucks again,” he said.

“We are still in a pretty deep recession, and people haven’t overcome their fears about spending, but they’ll never start buying cars again unless we have events like this,” Bragman added. “If Detroit stopped doing auto shows altogether it would send the wrong type of message.”

This year, New York’s line-up of North American and world debuts includes: the MazdaSpeed 3 sport compact; the GMC Terrain, GM’s newest crossover utility vehicle; Ford’s new flagship, the 2010 Taurus; a new Mercedes E-class; and an experimental “micro subcompact” from Scion.

On the “green” front, Hyundai is expected to show a new gas-electric hybrid called “Nuvis,” while the all-electric Mini E, Honda’s Insight hybrid and the new generation Toyota Prius will all be on display. The winner of the prestigious “World Green Car” competition will also be announced at the show.

When it comes to the usual flashy displays put on to unveil their latest cars, there are indications that the automakers are pulling in their horns in New York this year.

Some 325 truckloads of cars and displays (which amounts to between 10.5 million and 11 million pounds of freight), have arrived at the Javits center for this year’s show, down from about 350 truckloads with 12 million pounds of freight that arrived last year, according to the show’s president Mark Schienberg.

Ford and Nissan, two large automakers, will not hold news conferences at the media days that precede the public viewing that starts this Friday. Pre-registrations from the media are down just over 3 percent from last year, when 4,830 members of the press registered for the event.

“I think we’ll do fine, but we are more cautious,” Schienberg said. “Spring is car-selling season, so I think people will want to come out and see the cars on show. And New York is an international city, so when a vehicle is shown here it’s picked up by media around the world. I think we’ll get a lot of press coverage.”

Press coverage isn’t something Detroit’s big automakers have lacked over the last few months, as every twist and turn in their efforts to salvage their failing businesses has grabbed the attention of the world’s media.

In the latest news event, the Obama administration said at the end of March that the turnaround plans GM and Chrysler had presented to Congress earlier this year hadn’t gone far enough. He imposed a tough timeline for them to turn their operations around.

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