2000 North American International Auto Show

Detroit Renaissance Center

3.0/8.0 DETROIT, MI (January 15, 2000) -- Maybe it was because I had gone to the Frankfurt autoshow last September. Maybe it was all the hype for this show. Maybe I got up too early that morning. Or maybe because there seemed to be only trucks at the show. In any case, boring is the best way to describe my reaction to this year’s autoshow.

I know I’m generalizing a bit here. There were a few cars that I found interesting, but over all, I thought it was a boring show. SUV - SUT - SAV - whatever seemed to be everywhere. Apparently, this was exactly what the people were looking for, too. Take a look at the Acura NSX below. I know the design is a bit dated, being 10 years old. But if you look closely, you can see tumbleweed blowing across the stand. This whole area was deserted. Doesn’t anybody care about 8,000+ rpm, mid-engined sports cars anymore...?

When my ennui passes, I’ll add more pictures...

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Lonely Acura NSX

For what it’s worth, here’s my “best of” list:

~ Best Concept Car: Honda Spocket (This is a completely biased selection, as I just bought a 2000 Electron Pearl Blue Honda Civic Si. I should disqualify it because I think it has some truck influences.)

~ Best Bag Giveaway: Audi (again)

~ Most Crowded Display: Dodge Viper GTSR

~ Most Likely To Make Old Men Swoon: Chrysler 300 Hemi

~ Most Likely To Make Cargirl Swoon: BMW M3

~ Most Likely To Make EMan Swoon: Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes

~ Most Likely To Be Driven by a ’Toon: Corbin

~ Most Likely To Be Mistaken for the Daewoo-built Pontiac Le Mans: Pontiac Aztec

~ Most Annoying Ingress / Egress: Cobo Hall’s basement displays (down escalators were difficult to find, and they made you go across the entire basement to go back up)

~ Biggest Letdown: What ever happened to the alluringly-clad female spoke-models?

(all photos by E Man)

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Auto Show Schedule

Don’t trust me on the accuracy of these dates, but here they are:

Greater Los Angeles Auto Show	Jan 8-16, 2000	310/444-1850 www.laautoshow.com
North American International Auto Show (Detroit)	Jan 15-23, 2000	313/567-5014
Chicago Auto Show	Feb 11-20, 2000	630/495-2282
Salon International de l’Automobile (Geneva)	Mar 2-12, 2000
New York International Auto Show	April 22-30, 2000	718/746-5300 www.autoshowny.com
Mondial de l’Automobile (Paris)	Sep 30 - Oct 15, 2000

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Paris 1998	Detroit 1999	Frankfurt 1999
	Detroit 2000

Paris 1998	Detroit 1999	Frankfurt 1999
	Detroit 2000