L.A. Auto Show: A year without glitz and goodies

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The 2008 L.A. Auto Show’s two press days have come to a close, and one thing is clear: Times are tough.

Throughout the show’s three halls, amid the gleaming sheet metal, there was a notable lack of the kind of excitement, buzz and, tellingly, free trinkets and food that used to be de rigeur at such events.

Gone are the days of a sandwich and a gift suitable for framing (or EBay) at every booth. Ford handed out popcorn when it introduced the new Mustang on Tuesday night. In the past, Scion gave away cute little stuffed cars and ski caps at the last few rounds of auto shows. This week from Scion: nothing. Chrysler didn’t even hang additional lighting over its stand, leaving its large collection of SUVs, minivans and muscle cars to sit in an eerie gloom. Porsche, which once gave out leather handbags, this year settled for lapel pins, as did Mini. Automakers were running out of press kits in minutes, leaving product specialists to fend off endless requests for more.

Jan Ehlen, a spokesman for BMW, said the company flew out only two-thirds as many staff for this year’s show as it had originally planned, leaving everyone with extra work in order to create the same impression in the company’s stand.

Droves of ravenous reporters spread out like army ants, snapping up every morsel of food throughout the L.A. Convention Center. Ferrari carefully hid its espresso bar behind a set piece, but soon the news was out — ‘Ferrari has coffee and cheese!’ — and the supplies were gutted.

Even so-called ‘booth babes’ — the helpful young ladies who have enhanced vehicle displays since the days of the crank starter — were in short supply....

There were a few at Ford’s Lincoln display, but none were in evidence at GM or Chrysler’s areas. Exotic brands such as Lamborghini still balanced their metallic beasts with feminine charm in tight black dresses and towering heels, but even some sports car makers, such as Lotus, were forced to let their cars speak for themselves without babe-aid. Rolls Royce, which traditionally has as many as four ladies on the stand, brought only two, apparently.

At night during the show, L.A. is usually abuzz with lavish parties for industry types. Last year, for example, Ford hosted a dinner at Shutters in Santa Monica, while Jaguar held a party at Social on Santa Monica, and Mercedes-Benz had a luxe event at the Chateau Marmont. This year, Mercedes did its party at Matchbox studios and Ford, as mentioned above, gave out popcorn in an airplane hanger in Santa Monica. BMW and Audi, among a few others, still kept up appearances with a handful of lavish affairs, but apparently the days of party hopping are over.

Perhaps the lowlight of the show was the sight of the public relations staff at General Motors — known for its employee buffets — sitting in the bed of a Silverado pickup on the showroom floor, eating pizza out of a delivery box.

—Ken Bensinger

For photos of production cars from the L.A. Auto Show, click here.

For photos of concept cars from the L.A. Auto Show, click here.

For photos of ‘green’ cars from the L.A. Auto Show, click here.