Moving on up! Chinese automakers move out of Cobo basement thanks to Detroit no-shows
by John Neff on Nov 25th 2008 at 5:28PM 
With the pull out of Porsche, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Ferrari, Land Rover and Rolls-Royce, Nissan and Infiniti from this year's Detroit Auto Show in January, there's a lot of empty space on the show floor of Cobo Hall that needs to be filled. Chinese automakers will be the direct beneficiary of everyone's lack of interest in Detroit, as both BYD Auto and Brilliance will be moved out of the basement, otherwise known as Michigan Hall, and onto the main floor of Cobo for the first time. They'll be occupying the space formerly reserved for Mitsubishi and be positioned elbow-to-elbow with mainstream manufacturers that actually do sell cars in the U.S. While Chinese automakers have displayed at the Detroit Auto Show for the past few years, the closest they ever got to the main floor was the lobby when Geely was the first Chinese automaker to exhibit there back in 2006. At this rate, we expect Cobo Hall to be fully owned by the Chinese by the end of next year.
[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
the vegas style guy 5:33PM (11/25/2008)
THAT LOOKS LIKE MY DAEWOO NUBIRA WAGON HAD A LOVE CHILD WITH A MAGNUM (OR IS THAT WITHOUT A MAGNUM?).
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MelamineChina 7:03PM (11/25/2008)
Asian Car Comparison Guide (Japanese Cars vs. Korean Cars vs. Chinese Cars): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ3oyo-irJ4
Nicolas 5:35PM (11/25/2008)
Hobo hall needs a major revamp
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Torrent 5:35PM (11/25/2008)
Oh this is great to hear on my birthday. Fugly cars that will never come to America will take over an American Auto Show.
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2004m3driver 6:29PM (11/25/2008)
Wait till you see the stripper your friends got you from the homeless shelter whose going to pop out of you old furniture foam cake.
Times are tough man.
2004m3driver 6:30PM (11/25/2008)
pop out of *your cake made out of* old furniture foam.
Torrent 6:39PM (11/25/2008)
A homeless stripper. epic
cFoo 8:24PM (11/25/2008)
Give it up. The detroit autoshow stopped being American many moon ago. It's time we move on people. We still have an awesome tech industry. Better take care of it before India completely destroy us on that front too!
DesiAuto 5:41PM (11/25/2008)
Very symbolic ... of the world changing around us.
On a different note ... google "peter schiff", see what he had to say in 2007 and hear what he has to say now and start building your personal strategy for next few years.
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casey 5:50PM (11/25/2008)
maybe they can sell these cars at WalMart with the rest of the chinese built products. Sears used to sell a version of the Henry J called the Allstate in the early '50s.
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Cyx 11:07PM (11/25/2008)
IMO,chinese petrol cars couldn't match their quality against their European or Japanese rivals though, it will do well in E-car or H-car field,nowadays china has developed various high-tech environment-friendly cars.
BlackEmblem 5:48PM (11/25/2008)
is dat sum Bimmer?
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letstakeawalk 6:00PM (11/25/2008)
The character line beginning at the headlamps... Brilliance BS4.
BlackEmblem 7:16PM (11/25/2008)
I was being sarcastic.
I was mocking the car's weird resemblance with the E91 wagon.
letstakeawalk 12:24AM (11/26/2008)
Oh, sorry. If I was trying to be funny, I would have said something like:
iz dim sum bimmer?
You, know, to really work the Chinese thing.
Brent 5:58PM (11/25/2008)
Well I'd rather look at Chinese cars, than the floor.
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happy_penguin 6:13PM (11/25/2008)
I'll be sure to not touch any of them for fear of lead and melamine poisoning.
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Conundrum 10:33PM (11/25/2008)
@ penguin...
Not to mention they may structurally implode like the European crash test models did.
Vu 6:28PM (11/25/2008)
Looks like a strong competitor for the Porsche wagon.
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Anthony 6:35PM (11/25/2008)
It's the 7-series station wagon! Oh no wait the Chinese automakers are up to their old tricks again...
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