2011 North American International Auto Show

[MOstang]

I had an opportunity to attend the 2011 NAIAS Industry Preview day on Thursday here in Detroit. Ford continues to outshine the other participating companies in many different ways. A good mood this year and elevated over the past several years. One could observe that GM and Chrysler once again invested into their displays. A few manufacturers returned this year (including Porsche) after not attending the past couple years. Still no Nissan, though, even with a large R&D presence in the Detroit area.

Several of the new Boss 302's were there including the racing version (Laguna Seca) up on a stage with a dyno. I had a chance to film a few differen't pulls and will soon post that video so you can listen to it run. That was fun to watch and hopefully I'll get a chance to drive one of them sometime in the near future. The new Ford police vehicles were there too.

The public event began today. Took a few pics and they can be found in my Fotki album following the link below.

http://public.fotki.com/MOstang/various--special-se/north-american-inte/2011-north-american/

[ssp91ssp]

Mike, sounds like you had a good time.:)

Not related to your event but we use to love coming to the Mich Dream Cruise every year there for about 4-5 yrs in a row. We were even there during that huge black out!!! and still had a BLAST!
Thanks for posting that, Mike.. stay warm.

[86NeSSP]

I was also there on Saturday around noon... The Ford display was the best of the show... None of the other manufacturers could compare. I mean Chevrolet had the new Sonic out in FORCE. They had more of those sitting around than anything else, WEAK.

I had not been since 2004 and this was a real let down. I guess in the past 7 years it has been slow since the economy and the bust for the auto manufacturers. I remember the big displays from Chrysler, GM and Ford. Hell even that year Ferrari hada big display. 1 Ferrari.

It was still fun to see new models and such but not very much over the top. I did like the Tesla cars. Wow those look good in person.

Good pics. I think the only ones I had that you don't or not in your photobucket are the Green Hornet car and the CTSV Coupe racecar. It was interesting that there were so many cars with matte finishes.

[stadair]

Remember the year that the NAIAS had arial acts in their display? I think it was Chrysler that had that going on once every hour. And Jeep had a water fall that spelled out words. Those were the days.

I went to the auto show today, Thursday. Was there when the doors opened. Week day mornings are the best time to go. Don't have to rub elbows with the guy next to you to get close to the cars.

Mike - I have some of the same pictures! So lets see if I can add ones that aren't copies...