This past Friday I attended press day at the 2012 Philadelphia Auto Show unveiling of the 2013 models.  It was a really special day, I was able to bring my husband as my video camera man, needless to say he was thrilled.  General Motors hosted our visit to the auto show.  It was so wonderful to explore the cars without the crowds.

The best part of the day was having a personal tour of the show floor by James Bell Head of GM Consumer affairs.  We started at the Chevy Corvette, it looked like as James put “if Darth Vader had a car”.  The corvette is always a sexy car but this model was gorgeous black paint that sparkled with depth.  I am sure what was under the hood was sure to make you scream.(I digress but the Corvette was special.)

I feel like the tour with James was an education in the current state of the car market.   What automotive companies were doing a great job like the Subaru,  Audi, and General Motors.  James explained that the standards and rules have changed thus affecting car design.   Some company have done great job,  other well … lets say … There is always next year.

US changes to expect for Car Makers:

• Fuel Efficiencies:  By 2020 all us cars manufactures will have to achieve an average a fuel efficient rating of 35 miles per gallon, for their entire US fleet.  IE they have to sell more little efficient cars to balance out the large gas loving vehicles.   As expected electric, hybrids, and alternative fuels are planning a large part in get the US cars manufactures to meet this standard.

• Size of cars– The cars will continue to get smaller, because of the fuel demands, the designers will need to pushes the envelope in all areas to meet US standards.  Engineers will continued to be challenging by using less space in a vehicle but still providing comfort for the consumer.

• What does this mean for the large cars?  The large trucks and SUVs will not go away entirely but there will be less of them and they will not take center stage.  Jim also pointed out that the average  US drivers thinks that  large cars are safer.  Jim says that is not always true, Smaller cars can react quicker in an accident and move out to the way.  I personally never thought of smaller cars reaction time, he does have a point.

State of General Motors : James Bell explained that GM is back on top as the #1 car company in the US, as president Obama reiterated in 2012 State of the Union address.  General Motors was for many years the best selling US car company, then for a brief time Toyota was, but they are happy to say they are back where they should be.  While Test driving the GM cars I was really impressed  the attention to detail throughout the entire car.    They really are competing on all levels of style, comfort, and consumer’s needs. The GM designers really did achieve amazing quality and luxury at all price levels.

Thanks to James Bell for taking to the time to walk the Philadelphia 2012 Auto show with us.

For more about check out my upcoming post:

-Outside the US …learning about the car manufactures in the world how it effect the US consumer.

-My Test drive of the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu Eco with the Vehicle Line Manger Malibu Tracy Mack-video

-My test drive with the 2012 Cadillac SRX with Social Media GM Northeast Lauren Fitapelli- video

2013 Cadillac ATS available in April

Disclosure: I did receive free entrance to the auto show with my husband but the opinions in this post are my own.