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The Geely press conference was swarming with media members, despite it not being in the cozy confines of Cobo Hall itself, but rather out in the lobby/concourse area. John Harmer, head of Geely USA, introduced Mr. Shufu Li, the entrepreneurial force behind the Geely Automobile Co., to the sea of cameras and microphones.

Geely must have learned a thing or two from its whack press conference in Frankfurt, as the one today was much more formal and informative. The company even did something very rare for an automaker at NAIAS – had a Q&A session with the press during the press conference.

Tags: Dodge Parts, Detroit Auto Show, Trends

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to announce this Thursday its new testing standards at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan.

The standards, according to anonymous sources (fearing they’ll lose their relationship with the government body), will be rolled out in two stages by the EPA. Stage One lowers mileage by a certain percentage to reflect air-conditioning use and another other vehicle devices. Stage One affects model year 2008 vehicles.

Tags: Nissan Parts, Detroit Auto Show, Trends, Economy, Hybrids/Alternative

Michelin's 2006 Challenge Design theme is vehicles for the California market that incorporate an alternative powertrain, with tires appropriate to the powertrain and considering the role electronics play in tire systems. To showcase the design contest finalists, Michelin orchestrated the North American debut of two hybrid concepts: the Italdesign-Giugiaro Toyota Volta (shown above) and the American Honda GRX Hybrid.

Tags: Honda Parts, Concept Cars, Detroit Auto Show, Hybrids/Alternative

The brave guys at Engadget are live at MacWorld today, and did a live blogcast of Steve Job's keynote address (aka the Stevenote) this morning - still going on as I write this.
Before he got to the new tech for the Mac faithful, Steve dropped a couple of news bits of automotive interest.
First, Apple sold 14,000,000 iPods - in the last quarter! Jobs pointed out that this amounts to a hundred iPods sold every minute, 24/7, for the entire quarter. Incredible.

Tags: Chevy Parts, Audio, Detroit Auto Show, Gadgets

Autoblogger Chris had some interesting comments to say about his experience over in Detroit. Here he is in rare form at the DaimlerChrysler press conference for Aspen (see here and here for earlier posts):

"That Daimler-Chrysler's press conferences often have more in common with theatre than they do with information has long made them a favorite with the press. From crashing through plate glass to leapfrogging minivans, there's always been an element of flair and fun that has made their P.R. team the toast of the industry. That was certainly the case with the pressers for Chrysler's 'Don't-call-me-Durango' Aspen and Dodge's Caliber."

Tags: Chevrolet Parts, Detroit Auto Show, SUVs