NEW YORK—The New York International Auto show kicked of its first of 2 days of press conferences for new and upcoming vehicles on Wednesday, and any sign of economic storms in the center of the financial capital of the world were difficult to detect inside the Jacob Javitz Center, with automakers rolling out new vehicle and concept cars as abundantly as in year’s past.
German Automakers, Mercedes Benz and BMW rolled out performance versions of two of their vehicles, with the E Class E63 AMG and the BMW X6 M, both with price tags in the $80,000 - $90,000 range.
Range Rover introduced the Sport version of their Range Rover pushing past the 500 horsepower mark, which essentially puts the price tag past $60,000.
Jeep unveiled the 2011 revamped version of their signature Grand Cherokee, a vehicle whose current model has an average sticker price of approximately $35,000-$40,0000 to combat the jump in cross-over utility vehicles (CUVs) which seem to be eating away at Jeeps market share of utility inspired auto buyers.
And with the ever increasing influx of new CUV models from Acura (the ZDX,) the GMC (the Terrain), Toyota (the Venza), and a number of concept cross-overs, to boot, all with price ranges in the heart of SUV MSRPs, there seems to be little to no recognition of a financial crisis affecting their potential market of buyers.
Porsche Indicates Possible Market Shift
Porsche disappointed some on Wednesday with the announcement that their 4 door grand touring vehicle, the Panamera, would not be unveiled at the NY International Auto show, but introduced at the Shanghai International Auto Show.
A move which could indicate a shift on the part of the There is no Substitute, German performance auto manufacturer, towards the Asian markets as the U.S. markets endures rough economic waters.
