Luxury cars at annual automotive show in Detroit
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E-mail CNTV, January 13, 2015
The North American International Auto Show kicks off Monday in Detroit, Michigan. The annual two-week event is one of the most highly-anticipated automotive shows. It aims to let attendees get up close to the latest automotive ideas, products and luxury cars.
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The North American International Auto Show kicks off Monday in Detroit, Michigan. |
It's a dazzling array of glitz and horsepower, featuring more than two dozen of the most expensive ultra-luxury, ultra-performance and exotic cars on the market. About $8 million dollars' worth of cars, to be precise. There is the Aston Martin V12 Vantage S (with a starting price of $185,000), the Jaguar F-Type project 7 ($165,000), and the always head-turning Rolls Royce Wraith (starting at $285,000).
And this is the most expensive vehicle here on the show's floor. It's a 2015 model from Porsche. It's a hybrid - 918 Spyder. It'll set you back $845,000. But Porsche says the price is worth it.
In fact, luxury car brands' sales hit record levels in 2014, with BMW, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Infinity, Bentley, and Maserati, among others, all enjoying a bumper year.
"It was a record-breaking year for Porsche. In the United States we sold 47,007 total units, which exceeded our expectations wildly. We attribute that just people understanding the value of having a quality automobile." said Calvin Kim, Product Experience Manager, Porsche Cars North America.
And it was an especially good year here in the United States - overall sales of cars and trucks, including premium cars, topped 16.5 million in 2014 - surpassing the 16 million mark for the first time since 2006, or before the Great Recession.
Analysts are citing an improving economy, job creation & wage growth, and lower gasoline prices and expect the momentum to continue in 2015.
And the organizers here say all this means the auto show and the industry are making a remarkable comeback.
"The displays are bigger than ever. People are really starting to take branding to whole new level . A few years ago, we started seeing a lot of the displays cutting back because of the recession. But the show is back, the industry is back, there is an energy when you walk the show floor that we haven't seen in a quite a few years," said Bob Caza, communications director of NAIAS.
And adding to all that buzz and optimism, is Detroit's own success story. The city exited bankruptcy last month, which, at $18 billion, was the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history.
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