A respite from politics? The New York international Auto Show

This past week has seen the auto industry invade New York in an attempt to market to the US something other than Presidential Politics.  March is a strange month in the city, neither deep winter nor the promise of Spring, few holidays and much drudgery.

An ideal time to contemplate buying a new car ?

The show itself consists of a huge basement filled with large SUV's, hybrid designs of predominantly American manufacture and upstairs the Japanese offerings, some US cars and the luxury end of the market.  Lambourghini was the only show I noticed to include the willowy blonde and brunette models posing by the supercars and chatting about where to get deals on hair and nail care.  Less glamourous ladies (all ladies note) where charged with giving speeches from aerobics style headsets about the MPG and torque performance of the cars they were baby-sitting. bizarre.

A hall of shopping stalls had some bizarre offerings, lots of dinky cars, but nowhere could I see a stall for Satnav sellers such as TomTom and the dreaded Garmin (used by Avis car rental) which has sent me on many a wild goosechase.

In any event, there were three key takeaways from the experience;

1. New Yorkers seems to favour Japanese cars over their homegrown versions.  At one level I am told the US cars are not as efficient (petrol/gas has tripled in price in the past five years) and "designs have not moved on in Detroit, while American tastes have".  However, go for a drive in neighbouring states and SUV, pick-up trucks have a major role to play.  Drive in an ice storm in Vermont in February and you will appreciate what a couple of tons of Detroit bashed steel can do for your safety.

2. 2008 is not the breakthrough year for the Hybrid engine offerings which cost double in return for a quarter better fuel efficiency.  One example is an SUV which costs $52,000 versus some $25,000 in normal configuration for 20mpg versus 15mpg in the apocryphal "urban setting".

Personally, I think 2008 is the ideal time to buy a US SUV - exchange rates are dire, fuel prices must fall (this is America remember), interest rates are rock bottom and Detroit would be more profitable if it did not allow new cars to roll off the production line...