The world's automakers are spending big at this year's North American International Auto Show in hopes that vehicle buyers will do the same.
The exhibits - at a cost of more than $200 million - and the scores of new models on display are designed to impress car executives, analysts, reporters and the general public alike and help fill auto showrooms in 2007.
"It's a great opportunity for us to get our message across," said Timothy Peters, assistant director of auto shows for General Motors Corp.
The area occupied by the world's top-selling carmaker seeks to convey the message of "one car corporation with eight divisions," Peters said, standing in front of the still-rising GM exhibit at Detroit's downtown Cobo Center.
The smell of fresh paint and sawdust and the buzz of power tools filled the air Tuesday, five days ahead of the start of the show's media preview. Touring reporters dodged construction workers and stacks of lumber as show co-chairmen Bob Thibodeau Jr. and Carl Galeana guided them around the 750,000-square-foot show hall.
"Every year, you see the manufacturers trying to outdo one another," Thibodeau said. "It gives these manufacturers a big marketing push worldwide."
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