The Auto Writer

Today is the first of three consecutive press days for members of the media and my schedule is packed morning, afternoon and evening. The show floor will open at 9:00 a.m. with the opening ceremony at 9:10 followed by the announcement of the North American Car and Truck of the Year Awards at 9:30. Ford, Chrysler and GM have the first press conferences followed by Mercedes, Honda, Hyundai, Land Rover and others. Whatever makes do not have their media event on Sunday, they’ll have their shot on Monday. Tuesday will be set aside for key automotive parts suppliers allowing Johnson Controls, Michelin and others to have their turn.

Within the welcoming pack I received from GM on Saturday was a hard cover booklet touting the 2009 Corvette ZR1 (pictured). This latest version of Chevrolet’s venerable sports car will be the most powerful one yet, as the supercharged small block 6.2L V8 will produce 620 horses and about 595 lb.-ft of torque. GM is emphasizing that the limited edition Vette is on the same level of race cars retailing for 2-4 times its price. Within the book, GM also included a CD with additional media material.

The Detroit News reported on Saturday that Audi is considering building a production plant in the US. Currently, Audi trails BMW and Mercedes in U.S. sales with about 90,000 cars delivered last year. Mercedes and BMW sell approximately 250,000 and 300,000 units respectively and Audi believes that a U.S. plant would help the automaker eventually raise its annual U.S. sales levels to 200,000 units.

One other news event is competing with the auto show for Michigan’s attention: Tuesday is the Republican presidential primary with candidates criss-crossing the state in search of votes. Native son Mitt Romney is the favorite and is running ads decrying the loss of auto industry jobs. Not sure what he promises to do about the problem.