General Motors CEO Mary Barra holds a media briefing before the start of GM’s annual

shareholders meeting in Detroit, in this file photo taken on June 10, 2014. Barra, meeting

with reporters on Thursday, said growth in the US auto market will flatten out this year,

although a strong economy and falling gasoline prices should sustain demand.

AFP/Detroit


A surging economy, more jobs and cheap gas: the US auto industry will celebrate a

confluence of near-perfect conditions as it unveils its latest wheels in the annual

Detroit car show next week.
After racking up the best year in sales since 2006, the last year before the financial

crisis hit, automakers will put out for display some 40 new car and truck models, hoping

to seduce buyers to make 2015 even better.
The cars will be more powerful and decked out with ever-more high-tech bells and whistles

that are making them safer than ever, while pushing slowly toward the day of the hands-

free automobile.
Rolling onto the red carpet in Detroit will be Cadillac’s most powerful car ever, the new

640 horsepower CTS-V; Lexus’s GS F performance sedan; a brand-new version of the legendary

Acura NSX; and possibly the next-generation Ford supercar.
Pickup fans will be wowed with the all-new Nissan Titan and Toyota Tacoma trucks.
The struggling green-car sector will also have badly needed fresh offerings in the form of

a redesigned GM Volt, and Hyundai’s hybrid and plug-in Sonatas.
The show, the premier auto exposition in the US, will also see the return of Chinese

makers, absent for several years after self-imposed exile, with Guangzhou Auto presenting

a new car — which will not be sold in the US.
The impressive array going on display underscores how the American consumer is enjoying

the richest, most diverse range of choices from the Detroit “Big 3” — General Motors, Ford

and Chrysler, now renamed FCA US — and European and Asian producers.
With gas prices at their lowest in six years, interest rates rock-bottom, and the US

economy and household worth growing steadily, “we’re almost in a perfect storm,” said Joe

Vitale, industry analyst at consultant Deloitte.
“When you look at all those factors, one it’s a good time to be a consumer, two there’s

liquidity out there for the purchase of vehicles, three there’s aging of the vehicle

population.
“All these things make it very desirable for the auto industry over the coming year.”
The North American International Automobile Show — to give it its full name — expects a

million visitors to descend on bone-chilling Detroit between January 17 and 25.
Some 20 manufacturers will compete for the spotlight in a US market that has been a bright

spot in a world where other economies are struggling to grow.
The industry is coming off a year of sales of at least 16.5mn cars and trucks in the US,

up 5.9% from 2013, according to Autodata, an industry consultant.
General Motors led the pack with sales of 2.94mn units; Ford was second at 2.48mn, Toyota

close behind with 2.37mn, and FCA US, the former American Chrysler marque now owned by

Italy’s Fiat, selling 2.09mn cars and trucks.
GM chief executive Mary Barra predicted on Thursday that sales in 2015 could reach a

buoyant 17mn vehicles, a level last seen in 2001.
“The US economy and vehicle sales have been rebounding since 2009 and we believe there is

still plenty of room for the auto industry to grow,” she said.
But for all the expected razzmatazz, the show does not open under absolutely clear skies.
After a record year of recalls in the US, some 60mn cars in total, many for life-

threatening defects, automakers will be under pressure to demonstrate a greater commitment

to car quality and consumer safety.
GM is especially under the gun, having been shown at the beginning of 2014 to have known

about a faulty ignition for more than a decade before taking action.
At least 42 people died in crashes tied to that problem and the company is facing criminal

investigation even as it pays out millions of dollars to settle claims.
The other cloud over the industry is the receding demand for energy-saving vehicles as

gasoline prices sink. Sales growth overall has been heaviest in the pickup truck and

sports utility vehicle segments, while sagging for electrics and hybrids.
Demand for such vehicles “has been somewhat disappointing for the auto companies,” said

Martin Zimmerman, a former economist at Ford and now professor at Michigan University.
With the companies under regulatory pressure to reduce the fuel consumption averages of

their fleets, the lackadaisical demand for electrics poses a problem for them, according

to Zimmerman.
Both automakers and regulators “are going to have to come to terms with these lower oil

prices,” he said.