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"Auto shows are one of the rare moments that the brand can meet the customer, shake their hand, look them in the eye and say, `This is who we are,'" says Jim Farley, Ford's global marketing director. Car companies had to cut back on their displays during the downturn. Most are no longer doing the kinds of expensive stunts they did at the Detroit show before the sobering recession, which forced them to close plants and lay off thousands of workers. In 1992, then-Chrysler chief Bob Lutz drove the new Jeep Grand Cherokee through a plate glass window. This year, Lutz will be talking to a holographic image of Thomas Edison at the display of electric-truck maker Via Motors. And the element of surprise is gone. Icons like the Ford Mustang and Dodge Viper were seen for the first time when sheets were pulled off of them in Detroit. As recently as 2000, there were audible gasps when General Motors revealed the ungainly Pontiac Aztek. "There isn't going to be that sort of shock and awe that you had at earlier shows," says Justin Hyde, senior editor of the Yahoo Autos' Motoramic blog. Bloggers are already abuzz about whether a new Ferrari supercar will appear next year in Detroit. Still, Hyde says, the show is the best place to get a lot of information about cars in a global market that's become huge and fractured. More than 6,000 journalists from 70 countries will attend two days of media previews starting on Monday, giving the show a reach far beyond Detroit. That's up from just 850 journalists 25 years ago. Nissan is one of several brands that pulled out of the Detroit show in recent years, only to return when they realized its impact. This year, Nissan is going all out, even appealing to the sense of smell in its display. It plans to pump a green tea-like fragrance into its Detroit exhibit. The idea? To put visitors at ease. And maybe get them to part with a little green of their own.
[Associated
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