Honda To Downplay Glum Detroit Auto Show, but Says It Isn't Pulling Out

Honda To Downplay Glum Detroit Auto Show, but Says It Isn't Pulling Out

By John O'Dell November 26, 2008

By John O'Dell, Senior Editor

Honda Motor Co. has joined the list of automakers downplaying the importance of January's 2009 North American International Auto Show , but the automaker says it still will use the Detroit show to debut the production version of its upcoming Insight hybrid.

Unlike Nissan and several other carmakers that are pulling out of the upcoming Detroit show completely in order to save the millions of dollars show participation can cost, Honda will still be there, and will still have a range of top executives available for interviews and to promote the company's vehicles during the show's four-day media preview, said spokesman Sage Marie.

"We're just doing away with the smoke and mirrors," he said, referring to the company's decision to not stage a formal unveiling ceremony with the kind of theatrical productions -- including indoor snowstorms, cattle drives, entertainment and sports stars hawking vehicles and cars crashing through walls of glass -- that has distinguished the Detroit show for decades.

It wasn't a difficult decision.

With the auto industry in turmoil and the fate of the ever-shrinking "Big Three" U.S. automakers expected to be the center of attraction anyway -- there probably will be more financial obituary writers than auto writers in attendance during the media preview days -- an expensive launch party for the Insight probably wouldn't have gained any more publicity for the car than its mere presence on the show floor will garner.

"It's an important vehicle that will still generate a huge amount of interest," Marie said of the Insight, a five-seat hybrid expected to be priced below $20,000, making it the industry's least-expensive gas-electric car at a time consumers are looking to save money in the showroom as well as at the gas pump.

"We'll still be at the show, and with the right car at the right time," he said.

Besides, it isn't as if no one has any idea of what the Insight will look like.

Although Detroit will mark the official world debut of the 2010 production model, Honda has made it clear that it really isn't that much different than the Insight Hybrid Concept the company unveiled at the Paris auto show in September and is showing off again at the Los Angeles International Auto Show, which is going on now through Sunday.

"If there ever was a time to try this tactic, Marie said of Honda's laid-back approach to the Detroit show, "this is the year."

Honda is leaving one other thing out of the show: the FCSport hydrogen fuel cell sports car concept it is showing in Los Angeles won't be trucked 1,800 miles northeast to titillate Detroit show-goers.

In addition to Nissan, automakers that have withdrawn completely from the 2009 Detroit show are Porsche, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Ferrari, Land Rover and Rolls-Royce.

John O'Dell:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.