L.A. Auto Show sees reluctant, worried consumers

Those who did express interest in buying said they were either downsizing or looking for something with top-notch gas mileage. Nearly all had major reservations about a bailout of the U.S. auto industry.

Small-business owner Greg Mohr, 50, said that under normal circumstances, he would be looking for a new car. He recently dumped his Lexus sport utility vehicle, leaving his four-person family with just a Volkswagen Beetle.

But, as he peered at a Jeep Wrangler at the Los Angeles Convention Center, he said the economic downturn has taken a toll on his dentistry business. He’s holding back on any new car purchase for at least another six months.

“We would like another car,” he said. “It’s a little inconvenient only having one ... but it’s just not the right time.”

U.S. auto sales have fallen about 14 percent in the first 10 months of the year. In October, they plunged 32 percent to the lowest rate in more than 25 years and show no signs of significant improvement anytime soon.

“People are worried in general about their job security. Anytime you start talking about recession, people will scale back their purchasing, which they have,” said Lincoln Merrihew, auto analyst with the market research firm TNS. “A car is something that’s fairly easy to postpone.”

The crowds at the auto show, which opened to the public Friday after two days of media previews, reflected those worries. Art Sorensen, a 32-year-old landscape designer, said he was in the market for a vehicle, but business is slow now that California’s construction boom has quieted. If he buys anything, it won’t be at least until next summer, and whatever it is will have to be super fuel-efficient, he said.

“This is the car I came to see,” Sorensen said, pointing to Honda Motor Co.’s Insight hybrid, which the Japanese automaker expects to challenge the Toyota Prius when it goes on sale next year. “I’m kind of like, do I go the diesel route, or do I go the hybrid route? Obviously both are a big step in the right direction from where I’m at right now.”

Although fuel prices are now less than half what they were when the national average surpassed US$4 a gallon in July, many still said their next car purchase would be a vehicle that gets good gas mileage.

“People seem to be looking more at the fuel-economy cars more than they used to,” said Devon James, 43, who already owns a Camry hybrid from Toyota Motor Corp.

The woes of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC have overshadowed much of the glitz in L.A., the first stop in the annual circuit of major U.S. shows that will hit Detroit, Chicago and New York over the next five months. The companies’ CEOs spent the last week making their case to Congress for US$25 billion in federal loans, claiming the nation’s financial crisis has put their very existence in peril.

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