North American International Auto Show: 2008

Finally I have some pics of this up. More will be on my Myspace and Facebook. In all it was a lot of fun. All of the car companies came, pressed and dressed, to show their best wares. However a few were curiously absent, like Aston Martin, and Porsche, if Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW are there, why not Porsche? That was a bad move on their part. The show itself was huge, even if in a smaller location then they have in Chicago. Surprisingly you could see just about everything in just one day. However I'm going to now show you the winners and losers, in my opinion, of the show.

Winners:
Smart- The ever-popular-in-Europe microcar is finally making its USA debut, and was possible the most crowded single area of the show. Everyone loved the car. And whats not to love?
Honda/Acura- With Honda's stunning new Pilot, and Acura's location surrounded in black marble their presentation was 2nd to none.
Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep- One of the best displays there, landscaping and really cool fountain drew people into their area.
Mini- The single most British area ever. Shag carpeting, loud Euro-pop music, and cars on the walls. Great fun.
Buick- Their Riviera was stunning, good on ya' GM.
Mitsubishi- The concept RA was drawing some good attention. It was really cool. All we need now is a 3000GT to compete with the Nissan GTR.

Losers:
Pontiac- The marque was tucked into a small corner in GM's area, so much more could have been done with. Along with Saturn, Pontiac has the most draw with the younger crowd. The cars themselves weren't bad.
Spyker- Their beautiful ONE car was overlooked because of the fact it was only one car. The wood floors were a nice touch.

I personally was a big fan of the Hyundai Genesis. If the new Tiburon is to be anything in those lines, well that will be great. All failed to compare to the Ferrari F430 Scuderia. Gorgeous in every meaning of the word.

NOTE: The NAIAS and car logos and names are all property of their respective owners. Photo's taken and assembled by me.