GM, Chrysler show what's coming at Paris auto show

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GM, Chrysler show what's coming at Paris auto show

BY MARK PHELAN

FREE PRESS AUTO CRITIC

PARIS -- Cars and technology shown at the auto show today could be critical to the future for General Motors and Chrysler, which are still rebuilding after their bankruptcies last year.

GM's European Opel brand will show a couple of sporty compacts that hint at the upscale small car Buick will build at the Orion assembly plant in suburban Detroit. Chevrolet will unveil four vehicles developed to power its growing sales in Europe, Asia and Latin America -- including the Aveo subcompact, also slated for production in Orion.

"This is tremendously important for GM's brands," said Rebecca Lindland, analyst with IHS Automotive. "The Aveo is one of the most important vehicles for Chevrolet globally, particularly in developing markets like India and China. GM needs to rebuild Opel's brand image with strong new models, and Buick has an opportunity to establish itself as a modern performance brand."

Chrysler's Italian partner Fiat will pull the wraps off advanced new engine and transmission technologies vital to plans for a more fuel-efficient family of Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles. Chrysler plans to produce those engines and transmission at factories in Michigan and Indiana.

Ford, meanwhile, will show the performance ST version of its new Focus compact.

Read more: Mark Phelan: GM, Chrysler show what's coming at Paris auto show | freep.com | Detroit Free Press http://www.freep.com/article/20100930/COL14/9300440/1331/BUSINESS01/GM-Chrysler-show-whats-coming-at-Paris-auto-show#ixzz1110lPRgX

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

Paris Motor Show a key test for Detroit's Big 3

Detroit automakers hope to gain bigger share in Europe while testing brands for U.S.

Scott Burgess / The Detroit News

Detroit's carmakers hope what plays in Paris, France, also sells in Paris, Texas.

As the Paris Motor Show kicks off today with a media preview, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC will roll out a variety of vehicles, including some that will play important roles back home in North America.

Europe has become a land of opportunity for some carmakers and a proving ground for others. Detroit's Big Three want to sell more vehicles in Europe to boost revenue and their bottom lines, but Ford and GM also have an eye on bringing models to the United States that have been successful in Europe.

"As we see Americans look at smaller cars and more fuel-efficient vehicles, we're going to see more vehicles coming from there," said Aaron Bragman, an automotive analyst for Southfield-based HIS Automotive. "Paris has never been more important for American consumers."

Ford took the wraps off its all-new 2012 Focus lineup Wednesday, including sedan, hatchback, wagon and performance ST models. The sedan and hatchback will arrive in the U.S. next year, with the ST, also a hatchback, due in Europe and the U.S. in 2012. The wagon will not come to the States.

The Focus follows the 2011 Ford Fiesta, which hit the U.S. market in July. The Fiesta was designed for Europe and adapted to fit American tastes. The Focus is Ford's first truly global vehicle, developed as part of CEO Alan Mulally's "One Ford" strategy. Although the automaker took some inspiration from the previous-generation European Focus, the 2012 models were designed from the start to be sold in markets around the world.

Ford plans to combine features from its European Mondeo model with attributes of the Fusion sold here on the next generation of both vehicles, which will be Ford's global midsize car.

The Dearborn automaker also will display an array of environmentally friendly vehicles and technologies. European customers can look forward to a start-stop system, dubbed Econetic, featured on a refreshed Ford Mondeo at the show, and the extra small Ford Ka.

The system, with other new powertrains, including a 1.6-liter turbocharged EcoBoost engine and a diesel engine, will help Ford reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

With Washington considering new fuel economy standards and consumers likely demanding more eco-friendly vehicles in the future, U.S. carmakers need to weigh their overseas offerings against the models they sell in North America, Bragman said.

"Europe has had a long slow movement toward more eco-friendly cars," he said. "It only makes sense for Detroit to use those vehicles in the U.S."

Aveo, others from GM

GM will unveil its all-new subcompact Chevrolet Aveo and three other vehicles in Paris. Only the Aveo is headed to America as GM goes for a bigger share of the U.S. small car market.

Vehicles sold overseas under the Chevrolet badge are making their way to America: The Cruze arrived last summer and the micro Spark will arrive soon.

Other global vehicles, such as the Buick Regal, also sold as the Opel Insignia, were developed in Europe before coming to America.

The European market is equally important to GM and the automaker will push to establish the Chevy brand in Europe, said Beate Stumpe, Chevrolet's global brand director.

"We have been working on this for quite some time," she said. "We are selling our product in 130 countries globally."

Still, Chevrolet has its work cut out for it, said James Bell, an automotive analyst for Kelley Blue Book. Chevy not only competes with GM's more established Opel brand in Europe, but its reputation may have been hurt by Chevy's initial imports of South Korean-made Daewoo vehicles.

"They have a real challenge there," Bell said. "But I think doing a big show globally resonates well for the U.S. consumer. It helps to establish them."

Chevy should see greater opportunities in Eastern Europe because Western European consumers are more brand conscious, Bell said. "The European buyer is more connected with lineage."

Chryslers as Lancias

Chrysler hopes to cash in on Jeep's American tough reputation and will introduce a handful of new models aimed at expanding the brand's reach. The Auburn Hills automaker also will show for the first time Chrysler models rebranded to be sold under Italian partner Fiat's Lancia brand.

Jeep will showcase new diesel powertrains in the Grand Cherokee, Compass and Wrangler that will be available only in Europe, said spokesman Ariel Gavilan.

The iconic brand will also debut a start-stop system for the Wrangler diesel. The system shuts off the engine when the vehicle is stopped, improving mileage by more than 10 percent.

"Jeep is truly our global brand," Gavilan said. "But we will also have some Chrysler vehicles on the Lancia stand for the first time in Paris."

While the diesel powertrains are exclusive for Europe, the Jeep products sold there will be made in North America and some of the fuel-saving technology, such as the start-stop system, will make its way to American vehicles by 2014.

Although the success of the American vehicles shown in Paris will depend on their acceptance in the U.S. market, Europe also is an important market in its own right.

According to ACEA, the European carmakers' trade association, European auto sales outpace demand in the U.S. Through August, carmakers sold 8.3 million units in the European Union, compared to 7.6 million in America during the same time period. The U.S. sales figures are from Autodata Corp.

"The Paris Motor show is the heart and center of the European markets," Stumpe said.

And being in that market has never been more important.

"Carmakers must work on a global scale today," Bell said. "For vehicles like the Aveo and others, this is the first chance to check them out."

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20100930/AUTO04/9300420/1148/auto01/Paris-Motor-Show-a-key-test-for-Detroit-s-Big-3#ixzz111A8rJxe