Bridge Over Troubled Water

The whole world knows the US automobile industry is in trouble (and that everyone else's isn't far behind). I took particular interest, then, in this year's New York International Auto Show, to see what the manufacturers themselves would say about the subject. Their attitudes were telling.

Most candid was Chrysler. Vice president Jim Press drove out in a Fiat Cinquecento and proceeded to wax euphorically about how much they're looking forward to their wedding night with the Italian automaker. Then he cut to the chase and rolled out a new Jeep Grand Cherokee, flagship of the line that has apparently been in the pipeline for quite a while. For all that, it's rather anachronistic, based on a pre-divorce Mercedes ML platform, but forward-thinking in that it brings four-wheel ifs, the first in a Jeep. A new dohc V6 is in the offing, too, as an alternative to the pushrod Hemi V8.

Next American up was GM. Their lipservice to economic trouble, delivered by Buick-Pontiac-GMC Channel North American vp Susan Docherty, consisted of their no-payment promise to the newly laid off. The sole rollout from The General was a GMC SUV, albeit a small one, an Equinox equivalent called "Terrain." For green credits, they touted their hybrid Yukon Denali. Perhaps it's time for GM to change the channel. A possible preview of the next channel is the two-passenger Segway, seen maneuvering on the show floor.

And what of Ford, you ask? Nothing. Nyet. Nada. No intros, no hype, just a quietly idling stand with lots of cars, including the returning Fiesta and the Transit Connect, a little utility van that is coming from foreign shores.

Last year Bentley promised they were getting hip on the environment. We won't see a hybrid Bentley, I'm afraid, but in 2010 the Continental is apparently going flex-fuel. New for now is a 621-hp Continental Super Sports.

Less dramatic, and perhaps more relevant, was VW's new Golf duo, a basic model and hotted-up GTI. Asked earlier, after his keynote breakfast address, why the company can't make up its mind between "Golf" and "Rabbit," VW of America chief Stefan Jacoby responded "It will be Golf forever." Porsche had a superhot 911 GT3, Mercedes a 518-hp E63 AMG, a hybrid SUV, the ML450, and a new E Class coupe. BMW, with precision PowerPoint proficiency, introduced the X6 M, a twin-turbocharged SUV.

Land Rover's mostly warmed-over trio, a new LR4, freshened Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, failed to excite. Most innovative vehicle of the first press day was Scion's iQ, a characteristically quirky box derived from a home-market Toyota product. I was most impressed by the unveiling of Acura's ZDX concept, a luxury hatchback possessed of a personality all but absent from all their recent cars.

Thursday's intros were all Asian, roll-outs from Mitsubishi, Subaru, Kia, Mazda, Honda and Hyundai, none of them earthshaking. Perhaps most interesting was this eye-opener discovered near the back of the First Level. It has its own story, which we will tell in the fullness of time.

The New York International Auto Show runs through Sunday, April 19th, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. Check it out.