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As one of my sponsors, General Motors invited me to attend the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) this week. I wasn’t sure how I’d fit in with the crowd of engineers, designers, industry experts, and marketers — I’m just a writer who loves to drive — but I found myself oddly inspired.
Those who have read my blogs for any length of time know that I’m a corporate drop-out. I don’t have many fond memories of my life as a corporate citizen. I was out of my element in gray cubicles and under fluorescent lighting, and I still get twitchy when I hear strains of Corporate Orange speak, especially those “teamwork” mottos that seem bent on turning bright ideas into some fair but mediocre compromise. I don’t miss the tacky inspirational posters, the bad coffee, or the 50 hour salaried weeks.
What I do miss, as I discovered at the NAIAS, is watching talented people put everything they’ve got into making a company and its products successful.
GM could have taken the tack of other corporations under duress, and settled for a lower market share, cutting down on research and design and new products until the economy improved. Instead, they seem to have decided to unleash their strongest talent and aggressively battle their way back to the top of the automotive industry.
All of GM’s product lines — Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC — have been muscled up with new technology and revitalized by state of the art, forward-thinking design. The most stunning change may, arguably, be the contemporary turn the Buick brand has taken. The new 2011 Regal has been reborn into a cutting edge luxury automobile with much more youthful appeal. The second generation LaCrosse and crossover Enclave are just outright beautiful feats of engineering and design excellence.
The Buick Enclave may be my second favorite GM offering at present. I hope to add one to the list of cars I’ll be driving across the country this year. The second and third seats of the Enclave fold all the way down, adding almost as much cargo space as a truck. Space is important when traveling with a year’s worth of supplies.
Of course, my heart still belongs to the Chevy Camaro. There’s just nothing about this car that I don’t love, which I probably made clear in this video. The convertible version is coming out in 2011, and it’s sure to be a big seller, but I still prefer a roof over my head, especially since the weather is unpredictable when traveling state-to-state.
It still surprises me that many people I’ve met on the road had not yet seen the new Camaro, but I’m sure that will change this year. The Ford Mustang had a slight sales edge over the Camaro in 2009, but I think as more Camaros take to the streets, Chevy will come out ahead, especially among purist muscle car lovers.
GM has faced a lot of criticism in the recent past, especially since it accepted a government loan to fully reinvest itself in the marketplace. It’s been my experience, though — from talking to people from California to Texas — that the majority of the public wants to see them succeed. There are always detractors; everyone seems to have an opinion on what GM needs to do to put itself back on top, but from what I saw at the auto show, GM is aggressively pursuing a course to reinvention that will be strongly competitive and put more American cars on the road.
There was a protest expected outside of the Cobo Center, where the NAIAS was held, but it ended up being a lone self-described “teabagger” (Jeffrey McQueen,who has a PO box in Rochester and, at least according to my Safari browser, an invalid website certificate) against a dozen or so UAW members. Still, the media showed up to interview McQueen, which was both funny and disheartening. There were far better stories to be found inside Cobo, where talent and ingenuity — instead of dogmatic pessimism — prevailed.
Attending the NAIAS taught me that while the corporate life may never be for me, there are still innovative and talented people at the helm of industry. In the last decade, I’ve felt there was a drought in American creativity, and an almost purposeful pull-back from new technologies. That drought appears to be ending, and I’m proud that one of my sponsors, GM, is leading the way.
Note: Remember Sunny, my first Camaro? I found her in Detroit — in prison. See the Whrrl story on the sidebar for that story and more.
FTC Disclosure: General Motors sponsors my road trip by providing automobiles. They paid for my lodging while I was in Detroit. No other compensation was received.
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Poor Sunny, What did she do to deserve such treatment? What a waste of a beautiful fun Sunny Delight
I think Sunny was a working model — in this case Modeling at the Ren Center. At least her inner beauty was respected and she didn’t have to wear one of those skimpy outfits.
The more people understand the PEOPLE at GM and the engineering, safety, and care that go into the vehicles these people make the more likely people are to realize we have some really terrific American car companies. I am very excited about a variety of GM products, and if people will give them a try they will be pleasantly surprised at the excellence they discover.
Bruce Nunnally´s last blog ..Re: Auto Alphabet Soup: What’s in a Car Name? – WSJ.com
Great article. When I’m due for a vehicle in a couple of years, I know where I’m heading.
I couldn’t have put it or wrote it any better. I am very grateful that GM invited me to NAIAS this year. Many car manufacturers had beautiful and innovative vehicles, but none beat the quantity that GM displayed at the show. I’m just barely 29 and if it were up to me I’d purchase a Buick today. Thoroughly the Buick brand was my favorite by far.
Screwed Up Texan´s last blog ..Practice Makes Perfect at Airports and at Home
GM may have made one of their wisest investments in future success when they began sponsoring you, Jane. We had completely sworn off GM products, but every post you make regarding your experiences with their cars leads me back down their path. I’ll be replacing the IS with a taller, more-cargo vehicle in the next couple of years. I will test the GM crossovers and small SUVs. You’ve convinced me to give it another go.
And Sunny, Sunny, Sunny… Perhaps a grass roots campaign to return her to her first love is in order.
Kim Nelson´s last blog ..It’s Fragile
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Why does the MSM hate America?
This comment was originally posted on The Political Carnival
Jane – it was our honor to have you, Allie, Andie and the rest of the crew join us at this year’s NAIAS. Thank you for the passion you’re developing for our products — and just as importantly, thank you for believing in us as people. We will be back; we’ve learned from the mistakes we’ve made — and we’re thrilled to have people like you in our corner helping to remind us what’s at stake and why we do what we do, why we need to work even harder. I’m personally gratified that we’re earning your trust.
Thank you … and it was AWESOME to meet you in person this week.
lol…..bc pessimism and corporate profit is what they are all about.
This comment was originally posted on The Political Carnival
It was very cool to see the Auto Show through the eyes of someone who had never been before. I think Kim nailed it: this sponsorship is one of our wisest investments, and it pays off in other ways as well – you are great fun, flexible and a complete and total pleasure to host. You don’t typically find all of these qualities (plus stellar writing ability) all in one being.
Damn glad to know you, Jane Devin