NEW YORK – We have just emerged from the climate of uncertainty over the presidential election, and here a couple of new questions return to agitate the waters, starting from the field of the automotive industry: we are slipping towards a period of recession, as he says the new administration and as evidenced by the abrupt halt of the auto market, or is it a simple jolt of adjustment, how is it hastening to reassure the outgoing administration? And the Auburn Hills offices that host the American headquarters of Daimler Chrysler, are manned by a new group of managers who will try for the umpteenth time to resurrect the Cinderella of American industry, or rather from a team of liquidators sent to sanction the management errors by Jurgen Schrempp? It is in this climate that is anything but reassuring that the Detroit auto show will open at the weekend, which is the most interesting meeting point of the entire American calendar. The party will have to be celebrated, since the market year has closed abundantly above the threshold of 17 million cars sold, a figure never registered in more than 100 years of history. But in recent times the expectation has been disturbed by a series of negative news that cast ill-advised shadows on Detroit.

GM has decided to end Oldsmobile’s agony by withdrawing the brand from the market, after a series of re-launch attempts that have drained the coffers of the company without producing any results. The new president Wagoneer announced the decision along with a severe package of cuts, which provides for the elimination of 20% of the range models among all the brands, layoffs for 15,000 workers, and a 15% reduction in European production. It is yet another restructuring plan designed to calm the shareholder base, which is facing worrying indices: based on the current stock price (around $ 53), the company’s total value is $ 30 billion, a misery compared to the 180 billion in annual turnover, and the attractiveness of some controlled brands, such as Hughes Electronics, which is well placed in the run of satellite communications. We then return to talk about the old fear of a possible raid on the stock market, while many investors have already sold their shares. GM once again promises to change direction, and at the show it presents itself with a series of prototypes that testify to the desire to rejuvenate and create new segments: the only road on which one can hope to build more substantial profits.

For its part, Ford has suffered a significant drop in sales over the past few months, due to the saturation of a market that has been drugged throughout the year by the massive use of incentives, and which now seems to have run its course . In his unfavorable case, he also played the negative publicity of the summer recall of the Firestone tires mounted on the Ford Explorer, followed by a series of other recalls that hit the entire production of his SUVs and pickups, up to obscure the emerging success of the Focus. Also in this case, American consumers are still waiting for a judgment that determines the responsibilities of the two companies in the accidents that have caused 149 deaths from the outbreak of the tread, as well as waiting to understand what the address that the new administration will want give to the road safety agency, the Nhtsa, whose power has grown considerably in the past glimpse of legislation. In this sense, the Detroit show will serve to understand what “Bush’s car” will be, or rather, what is the political direction that will accompany the future of the automotive industry for the next four years. Those who do not seem to be completely disturbed by the internal uncertainties of the country are instead the German and Eastern builders, who have taken advantage of the strength of the dollar to relaunch their offensive on the American market. At the end of the year they are the ones to have pocketed the most significant shares and profits, and in the stands of the Cobo Center they are now able to show that their penetration ranges across the board, including the truck sector where even Porsche is ready to enter with the Suv Cayenne