If it's January, this means Detroit, as in Detroit auto show, the best, most meaningful and often the most entertaining of the big-time car shows.
Media days start Monday, then the public gets to gaze and gawk. Frankfurt's show is bigger, Geneva's more exotic and eclectic and Beijing's more a crazy free-for-all in what is now the world's largest auto market. Detroit, though, is a well-organized gem, one cluttered from one end of Cobo Hall to the next with introductions and news, news, news. Go. You won't regret it.
For the wretches of the Fifth Estate, Detroit is gold. No other global auto show makes so many executives, product planners, designers and engineers so thoroughly available. It's the American way.
In Detroit, car company bosses are not treated like protected royalty, as they are in Europe, or as heads of state, as in Asia. In Detroit, the decision-makers rub shoulders with the messy, sweaty media - and give as good as they get. In Detroit, the auto bosses are not shielded by phalanx of public relations flaks. They come out and engage in ways that seem to energize them, even those from overseas.
In Detroit, I've taken a frosty mug from Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche in his Chrysler days. There he was, pulling beer taps in a firehall converted to a bar while answering tough questions about the "merger of equals."
In Detroit, I stood aside as former Ford Motor CEO Alan Mulally planted a kiss on the forehead of a promising, high-performing regional president, only to turn his attention to an in-depth discussion of car company bankruptcies and government bailouts.
In Detroit, I've had Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn say he agrees with my conclusion, then lecture me on my misguided premise to a question. After that, he expanded on the superiority of full-on electric cars (the Leaf) versus gasoline-electric hybrids (the Toyota Prius).
Twenty-odd years ago, we all were stunned to hear then-Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking confess to the sins of a company on the brink of collapse, then show a stunning concept that several years later turned into the first-generation Boxster.
In Detroit, more than a decade ago, a former Chrysler COO rode a thundering concept motorcycle into the media throng, hopped off and engaged in spirited analysis of future models.
In Detroit, I've even stood beside a slack-jawed CEO as he witnessed what I can only describe as the mating rituals of longhorn cattle on the street right outside Cobo, in the cold and the rain. Needless to say, the introduction of a new Ram pickup was side-swiped by the call of bovine hormones.
Aside from the unpredictability of nearly unfettered access to decision-makers, Detroit has something else going for it – the car-loving American consumer who can be relied upon to buy just as much vehicle as affordable, then a little more. Car buyers elsewhere do not collectively embrace vehicles with the fervor of so many, many Americans.
The Motown show is just a few days off now. Imagine that: looking forward to another January in Detroit.
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