Parked in a row in the northeast corner of the Qwest Center Omaha main floor are samples of a pair of automobile brands in the midst of transition after they were shunned by Ford Motor Co. during the recession.
Two Jaguar sport sedans, two Range Rovers and one Land Rover sit at this week's 2011 Midlands International Auto Show, somewhat symbolically, just in front of the rear emergency exit. No salesman or company representative parlays their features or vouches for the two brands, unloaded by Ford in 2008 to Tata, the India-based carmaker.
One passer-by noticed that the leaping jaguar hood ornament that had historically adorned Jaguar automobiles was no longer there, signaling significant change for the sport luxury brand.
“It's gone,” said the man. “It's all different. But the price tag is the same. Out of my range.”
Most of the brands sold off during the recession by domestic automakers aren't as evident at this year's auto show as in the past. The show, sponsored by The World-Herald, is open through Sunday.
Saab, sold early last year by General Motors to Spyker Cars, doesn't have a single vehicle on display.
The only brand that appears to have a larger presence is Volvo, also sold by Ford. Volvo, known for its high-end safety features, is showing four automobiles this year, compared with three last year.
“We were more prepared this year,” said Ian Aeillo, a spokesman for Gorges Volvo of Omaha.
At auto shows across the country, many of the brands that were passed over during the recession are clawing their way back into the spotlight, said Jesse Toprak, an analyst for TrueCar.com, a website that tracks auto industry trends.
Jaguar, he said, is “doing significantly better than they have in the past.” The quality of the cars is improving, and the current sport-luxury designs are “bringing back the Jaguar mojo.”
Even though it doesn't appear so at the Midlands Auto Show, Toprak said, Jaguar and Land Rover, which has a cult following, are “on the right track.”
Over the next year, Toprak expects luxury cars to do “significantly better” than market averages, a trend typical for the auto industry when recovering from an economic downturn.
Meanwhile, as brands thrown by the wayside struggle to gain attention, the Big Three domestic automakers — Ford, General Motors and Chrysler — have increased their presence at the show, but in different ways.
Instead of showing off the sexy, sporty vehicles that got car aficionados drooling in decades past, Ford, for example, is showcasing a fuel-efficient sedan, the 2012 Ford Focus, and a zippy compact, the 2011 Ford Fiesta.
It is a case of spending marketing dollars to display the cars that consumers likely are going to buy and those that are the most environmentally friendly, rather than those they just want to look at, said Mickey Calais, sales operations manager for Ford's Kansas City division, which includes Omaha.
“For consumers, fuel efficiency is top-of-mind, along with safety and efficiency,” Calais said.
Farther down the showroom floor General Motors, instead of highlighting its newest, fastest Corvette or Camaro, plucked a Chevy Volt to place on a giant pedestal in the center of its display area.
The electric-powered Volt, which runs on the equivalent of 288 laptop computer batteries with a backup gas engine, spins 'round and 'round on the spotlighted platform with its charging cable sitting idly on the side.
Near the Volt, much in the same manner of Ford's Focus and Fiesta, General Motors employs a saleswoman with a microphone and public address system to hash over the details and features of Chevy Cruze, a four-door sedan that GM hopes will compete with Toyota's Camry and Honda's Accord.
GM plans to sell 10,000 Volts in the first year of production and about 48,000 the second year. By comparison, the company hopes to sell about 200,000 of the Cruzes, said Craig Eppling, a spokesman for GM.
“The Cruze is definitely more mainstream,” Eppling said.
Even though electric and hybrid cars are expected to make up only about 5 percent of sales this year, the carmakers have allocated a significant amount of space to those vehicles, like the Volt and the Nissan Leaf.
“That's done intentionally by the carmakers,” Toprak said. “They want to be known as the most environmentally friendly.”
2010 was a better sales year, with GM, Ford and Chrysler posting significant increases over the recession-battered market of 2009.
When measured against very low comparable figures in 2009, GM sales were up 21 percent, with four brands instead of eight. Ford sales grew 19 percent for the full year, and Chrysler sales were up 16 percent.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1414, ross.boettcher@owh.com
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