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A day before the kick-off of the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Sunday, a U.S. press report revealed that American drivers have begun abandoning gas-guzzling SUVs and pickup trucks in favor of small and more efficient mid-sized sedans and hybrids. The auto show could herald a turning point in America's auto buying patterns, the report said.
The report was prompted by news that has shocked the American car industry: Toyota's Prius hybrid outsold Ford's best-selling Explorer SUV last year. Toyota's achievement was unthinkable just seven years ago when the Prius was introduced in the U.S. Sales of the hybrid car in America were very meager that year, while the Explorer sold 445,000 units.
This year General Motors turned heads with a line-up of smaller cars at the Detroit show. GM's Chevrolet Beat, which will be made by GM Daewoo and sold in the U.S. in 2009, stole the spotlight from other state-of-the-art concept cars.
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Hyundai Motor's Genesis luxury sedan is unveiled at the North American International Auto Show, which opened in Detroit on Sunday.
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Although U.S. carmakers like GM and Ford used the Detroit show to advertise their future plans in order to strengthen sales of sedans and small cars, they will unlikely scramble to introduce new cars sooner or later.
As a result, the U.S. auto industry is expected to see a decrease in production due to continuously-rising oil prices and the subprime mortgage crisis. The industry predicts that U.S. automakers will cut their output for the local market by around one million vehicles compared to last year.
Toyota used the show to showcase another hybrid, the A-BAT pickup truck. That vehicle poses another threat to U.S. carmakers which consider the pickup truck market their last bastion.
Korea's Hyundai Motor took advantage of the Detroit show to unveil its rear-wheel-drive Genesis luxury sedan, which will hit the North American market in June. Kia Motors, meanwhile, plans to release its Mohave full-sized SUV this year.
Experts are concerned that Hyundai and Kia are concentrating on large vehicles in the U.S. They say that Kia also plans to produce SUVs like the Sorento in its plant in the U.S state of Georgia, which is scheduled to start operating in late 2009.
They suggest that Korean carmakers should focus more effort on introducing smaller, more fuel-efficient, high-quality cars rather than mid-sized or full-sized cars to overcome the stagnation in the U.S.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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