Detroit Auto Show Puts Green Cars of the Future on Track

After a $17.4 billion loan package for two of the big three U.S. automakers extended by the U.S. government in December, it is important for the companies to show they can keep pace with recent demand for fuel-efficient, low-emission cars.

The new ride and drive element highlighting the green future of the automotive industry added to the show by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation is nicknamed the MEDC EcoXperience.

It will allow the press and members of the public to experience the latest in technology instead of being merely passive observers as in years past.

Show organizers have set aside 70,000 square feet of floor space and have built a natural setting inside the Cobo Center exhibit hall to enliven the Michigan EcoXperience. The 700-foot-long oval driving track is surrounded by about 100 trees and features two ponds with waterfalls.

Tesla's electric sports car will be shown on the Michigan EcoXperience track. (Photo courtesy Tesla Motors)

Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mitsubishi, Tesla and Toyota will showcase their latest concept vehicles on the track.

North American International Auto Show Executive Director Rod Alberts said, "This year's NAIAS is historic in its impact on the global economy. No other time is more critical for the nearly 6,000 international journalists of the world to see the future and strategy of the automotive industry."

"The MEDC EcoXperience is the best way for automakers to bring to life the vehicles that have been on their drawing boards and could be in consumer garages very soon," Alberts said.

The MEDC EcoXperience is intended to showcase what progress the global automotive industry is making in the realm of alternative propulsion technology.

Automakers will share current and future modes of alternative propulsion technology on the MEDC EcoXperience course with the vehicles available for press test drives.

Visitors on public days will be able to experience the track with rides chauffeured by either professional drivers or product specialists.

The course design will allow vehicles up to and including full-size SUV hybrids to be driven in the MEDC EcoXperience. In order to ensure the safety of participants, a 10 mph speed limit will be enforced and crash-barriers will be installed around the perimeter.

Lisa Dansock, vice president of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. said, "To be able to prove to the world that research and development is thriving is a clear sign to the public, the legislature and the world that while the industry is being cost efficient, it is not willing to mortgage its future by being short-sighted."

She said, "Alternative powers and innovation do exist and the MEDC EcoXperience is proof."

The North American International Auto Show will be held January 11 through 25 at Cobo Center in Detroit. The press preview will be held January 11 through 13, and the industry preview takes place January 14 and 15.

The annual black-tie Charity Preview gala will be held Friday evening, January 16.

Public Days will be held Saturday, January 17 through Sunday January 25.

In April, Detroit will host The Society of Automotive Engineers annual meeting where engineers will focus on combating climate change by finding the best balance between reduced emissions, efficiency, safety, performance and cost.

The theme of the 2009 SAE conference, hosted by Honda, is Racing to Green Mobility.

"Racing to Green Mobility is a challenge to the industry and to each of us as individual engineers to act and take responsibility for a goal we all share - ensuring the survival of our planet," Masaaki Kato, president of Honda R&D Co., Ltd. and the chairman of the 2009 World Congress told the NAIAS official publication "Showtalk."

Kato said, "Through SAE the entire industry can work together even as we compete with one another to address our common goal of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change."

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2009. All rights reserved.