A number of manufactures have been showing off their latest models, all with one thing in mind, fuel-efficiency. Gone are the days when Americans feel the need to purchase a huge vehicle with a big gas-guzzling engine. Hybrids and clean diesels are now becoming more popular, and this is evident at the North American International Auto Show.

Chevrolet is one of the automakers that had a hard 2009, they are not on the comeback and hopes that the unveiling of the Aveo “subcompact will help them win favor once again with consumers. As we know Ford has its new Fiesta, which has been doing very well over in Europe, so now has to prove itself on home soil.

Some carmakers are not so certain that American’s will just give up their big engine vehicles, a spokesperson for Christian Klingler said that they will not be driving around in small cars anytime soon.

One of the biggest crowd pleasers at the Auto Show was Ford’s Drive Green”, stand, which is where the company were showcasing the Fusion. They also announced that they are to invest $500 million in green vehicles for the U.S. For more details visit channelnewsasia.com.

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Taking top honors at this year’s event was the GMC Granite urban utility vehicle, which we spoke a little about the other day and the Audi A8 luxury sedan. These awards are very special to those who designed the vehicles, as they were judged by some of the top designers in the automotive industry.

The GMC granite took the award for the top concept vehicle, while the Audi A8 won the “Award for Design Excellence”. Both vehicles had tough competition, the Audi eTron Nissan Mixim and the Revenge Verde Supercar were all in for a chance as the top concept vehicle. Some of the other contenders in the “Award for Design Excellence for production vehicles were the Ford Focus, Bentley Muslanne, Lincoln MKX and the Fiat 500.

There were 15 design executives who had the tough job at judging the EyesOn Design Awards at this year’s Detroit Auto Show, three of which were three design legends, Willie G. Davidson, Tom Matano and Jack Telnack.

For more details visit The Detroit Auto News

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While there they will share with you their imagination and insights into the coming year. Today will be the ideal opportunity to forge new partnerships, which is certainly needed to help kick start the ailing auto market.

The Industry Preview is all about networking, so let’s hope that you have all dusted up on their talking skills, as this will be key to your success. Today you will get to see all the latest products and services in the auto industry; all this is done under one roof, making it much easier.

The 2010 Detroit Auto Show Industry Preview begins today, January 13, 2010. Doors open at Noon – 9 p.m. The event will be on again tomorrow at the earlier time if 7 a.m through to 9 p.m. Tickets will cost $75 per person.

We have to warn you that children under the age of 12 will not be allowed to attend. For more details visit www.naias.com

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General Motors had its worst period last year when they had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, this lasted for six weeks, but this did not go down well with the U.S. taxpayer, wondering why their money should be used to bail out a carmaker.

According to a report on Telegraph, Bob Lutz, GM vice-chairman said that making a full-year profit is dependant on the U.S. economy making a recovery, something that has looked very optimistic in recent months. Lutz also added that for General Motors to be come profitable, the U.S. Automarket would need to shift 11 to 12 million vehicles, compared to the 10.4 million sold last year.

Although, we have to remember that those sales were inflated thanks to the governments Cash for Clunkers scheme. This was put in place in the hope of enticing drivers in to getting cashback on old cars in exchange for purchasing a new fuel-efficient model.

If GM is to succeed, then they will have to try and crack the Chinese market, as Ford will do with their “One Ford” strategy. China has now become the world’s biggest automotive market, which is why it is so important and the recent news of the 2012 Ford Focus will also be destined for China.

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Zetsche is still in the auto industry as he is the head of Germany’s Daimler AG, while Marchionne shows how things should be done by multitasking, as he is also the chief executive of Fiat SpA, Chrysler’s Italian part.

When the two Chrysler CEOs were together having their photos taken The Detroit News noticed how “visually striking” the pair were. Things may be going ok at Chrysler for the moment, but General Motors are still struggling as they continue to look for a new CEO.

Interim CEO Ed Whitacre Jr., cannot understand why GM feel the need to search for a new chief executive as he feels that he is the right man to take on a permanent role.

Looking at the current batch of cars on show in Detroit, it seems that hybrids will become even bigger. Yesterday saw a number of concept hybrids destined for the showroom, which you can read more about here.

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It is so nice to see Cadillac showing off a new emerging top-of-the-line Platinum vehicle and is said to feature some of the latest technology available to the auto industry. Sorry, did we forget to mention that the XTS Platinum even comes with a plug-in hybrid system.

The design of the new vehicle has been done from scratch, and has been designed for connectivity, efficiency and luxury. We assume that its in-car entertainment will feature GPS as well as information gathered from the Internet.

The main power comes from a standard 3.6 Liter V-6 Direct Injection gas engine, which works in unison with its plug-in hybrid system. This allows the owner to plug the vehicle into a standard electrical outlet, in some cases; it could double the fuel- efficiency.

Looking at the exterior of the XTS Platinum Concept you can see that Cadillac has gone for a contemporary design, you only have to look at these photos from Autoblog to understand what we mean. For more details visit naias.mediaroom.com

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Alan Mulally joined Ford back in 2007, after being lured away from Boeing; he must have liked their offer as he had been with the Boeing for 37 years. He was a little apprehensive at first but told Reuters that he has grown to love the Detroit based carmaker.

There have been a number of rumors that Mulally had been approached by GM, he was asked to comment on this, in which he replied, “I love Ford.” We have to wonder why the CEO would want to leave Ford considering their recent success.

Reuters reports that Ford had lost $30 billion from 2006 through to 2008, but its recent turnaround has put them on target for “solidly profitable” in 2011. The Blue Oval knows that they have to concentrate on their small to mid-size car lineup, as these are the models that will appeal to consumers the most this year.

Ford has already had a great start to the North American International Auto Show, they have taken Car and Truck of the Year, and have announced a great lineup for the future, will this resurgence carry on, only time will tell.

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Ok, so we know that round one went to Ford, but Freep.com believes that no company can claim dominance. The auto industry is not out of the woods yet, but from the cars that we saw yesterday and sales starting to increase, it is a move in the right direction.

So we know that Ford is top of the bunch so far, but they are not getting complacent. The Detroit based company knows that times have changed, which is why they are not relying just on new models. We reported the other day that Ford are to launch new features for its Sync system, which is seen as a major part of their 2010 roadmap.

The U.S. automaker has to be doing something right as yesterday saw their shares surge to $12.11, that’s an increase of 42 cents. Compare that to its lowest point last year, $1.50. Ford commented on this by saying, “We can’t afford for one minute to rest on our laurels.”

There are those who believe that Ford has just got lucky, but they are set for a great year. However, we have to warn you that the battle will be tough, it is not all about new models, it is the complete package, one that Ford is winning for now.

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With that in mind, the Detroit Auto Show in 2010 lacked concept cars, which was directly related to car manufactures’ wanting to promote cars that could make it to production. Dollars spent on car production and designs are not what they once used to be.

The National Post reports that this years North American International Auto Show still had a few concept cars, even if they were not bountiful. These concepts were not as far fetched as previous auto shows, instead the Detroit Auto Show revealed concept cars that lacked the sci-fi design.

Concept cars and trucks on show included GMC’s Granite, Buick’s GS, Volkswagen showed off a new concept Coupe, and Hyundai used the Blue-Will hybrid to test out roof-mounted solar cells. Obviously some of these cars will more likely be produced than others.

Head over to the National Post to read the full details about the concept cars at the show, then let us know what you thought in the comments.

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Autoblog covered a number of new green vehicles yesterday, and the surprising thing was, U.S. automakers are now getting in on the action. In the past it has been the Japanese followed by the Germans with their Hybrid vehicles, but other carmakers know that a more fuel-efficient car is the future.

Audi are to up its game in alternative propulsion solutions, the 2011 Audi A8 is a fine example of that, although we will have to wait until the Geneva Motor Show, which takes place in March.

You can always count on Honda to launch some funky new cars and the 2011 Honda CR-Z Hybrid proves just that. The Japanese automaker hopes that this model will bring some fun in to the often-boring hybrid range.

The king of hybrid has to be Toyota and the announcement of the FT-CH proves that they have not lost their passion when it comes to greener vehicles. We all know that the Prius is the benchmark, you will be pleased to learn that the stylish FT-CH will be cheaper than the best selling hybrid.

These are just a handful of the hybrids on show at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show, for news on other models, visit Autoblog.

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