Maybe I'm the only one, but I find myself waiting to se what Charles_Barrett has to say, now that Wert has posted a great big photo of himself on the front page.

Well said. I'm game for the jump ball so to speak.

Of course I will say that it sure is nice to get a lot of stuff written and ready before hand. Even with so much in hand before Day 1 it was non-stop for me in Detroit.

"see" even. MY KINGDON FOR AN EDIT BUTTON.

Kingtom. Kindomg. Komding.

MY KINGDOM FOR A SECRETARY WHO CAN TYPE.

What about the buzz surrounding Wert's reunion ride? Was that embargoed?

@pitchpitch: &$%#^#&@! Soon! #^$^&%!

I agree completely with this post. The apple show is almost like christmas for computer / gadget geeks. It would be really cool to return to that for cars as well. This year most of the annoucements I didn't even pay any attention to because they were already leaked.

Having thrown out my pointless contribution, now to the article.

I think the entire auto industry could learn a lot from Apple, and I'm not just saying that as a Mac Fanboi. Steve Jobs knows how to ramp up the passion, how to make his fans excited about it. Apple treats EVERY product as something special and magical. Every item they sell is revealed with this sort of sense of awe and reverence, warranted or not.

When they're revealing their less-interesting products -- oh boy, the iPod HiFi, how terribly thrilling... -- I am reminded of the merchant at the beginning of Disney's Aladdin. "Ooooh, look at thees. I have never seen one of these intact before. This is the famous Dead Sea Tupperware..."

And yet we find crowds cheering and applauding and chomping at the bit to get one. The auto industry would do well to talk to a magician or a theatre showman. Or just watch the movie "The Prestige". Steve Jobs appears to have done that.

Imagine if the auto show was a magic show, and all the audience, you journalists, were shown beforehand how the magic trick worked. You'd be sitting in the audience only watching to see if the magician's head popped off. When it doesn't, when everything works, you say, "Okay, good enough" and go home to write something like, "Magician's Head Still Firmly Attached, Despite Journalists Best Hopes".

And the articles end up damning the automakers with faint praise. Wait.. Feint praise, right? ;)

I never thought I'd say this, but geez, let's inject a bit of Vegas into the show!

@pitchpitch: He took the bus.

I agree. The Automakers should look at the movie Cloverfield. Ever since the transformers trailer, all everyone wanted to see was the Monster. $47 mil on its opening weekend proves......Keep everyone in the dark!

@dearthair: Exactly -- I want the showmanship back!

Preach it, Wert!

@Ray Wert: I agree with that. However, could some of the issue been the large number of lackluster vehicles on display this year? Did anyone see the new Pilot (for one example) and start drooling?

@JayP71: Excellent point. It's a little easier to get excited about an iPhone or a MacBook Air because they really are things of beauty, even if they're not the technological tour-de-force we had hoped for. It's a little harder to get all hot-n-bothered about, say, a Fusion.

Malaise Era II? Anyone?

No matter how big the Prestige, if you're pulling a coin from behind a kid's ear, the crowd isn't going to stand up and cheer.

It's almost like Wert was trying to say that Jalop is a trusted news source there. Heh. Hee-hee. He-ha-ha-ha! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! BWAAAAAAAAAA-HAAA-HAA-HAA-HAA ::cough:: HA-HA-HA-HA ::cough-cough:: HAAAAAA!!!!!!

Mercy!

@DrivingPosition: Luckily, we all know that's not the case. Also, I didn't say that.

@DrivingPosition: "Trusted" might be a little strong a term, but since I discovered Jalopnik I was able to cancel my waste-of-money subscriptions to C&D, R&T and MT. I kept my subscriptions for CAR and EVO, but that's because they're actually quality magazines, and I don't care that the news is two months out-of-date by the time I get it.

Sounds like a testimonial on one of those drug commercials. "JALOPNIK worked for me, but you should talk to your doctor. Jalopnik is not for everyone. Side effects for Jalopnik include itchy, watery eyes, foaming at the knees, fits of lurgi, poor gas mileage, hoonage, sore throat, spit-takes, loss of productivity, sleepless nights, by-POLAR! disorder and mental constipation."

I don't think NBC and in turn, the viewer cares about the innerworkings of the marketing thought process.

It may be that the automakers are tired of feeding you cake and beer, so they would rather go on the unearned PR. Especially so in today's world of informed buyers on the internets. Nobody cares about pulling the lid off the main course, then everyone goes home writes pretty much the same article to be published in 40 different outlets.

Instead, they'd like to manipulate the bloggers, mags, shows, reviewers over the course of months building up tot he official unviel.

@dearthair: It isn't just Apple, but E3 and CES consistantly deliver something amazing and revolutionary. The entire electronics industry thrives on revolution and it drives product development, interest and sales.

Is the auto industry capable of delivering something revolutionary and buzz-worthy on an annual basis? I'm not so sure it is.

@Ray Wert: Out of curiosity, what was an automotive unveiling from the past few years that was Jobsian in its buzz, revolution and showmanship?

@eltonito: Not a single "One More Thing" or "Boom" that I can think of. Maybe I'm jaded...more than likely others won't be able to think of anything either.

@Ray Wert: How about the Fisker Karma? I know we all 'see' hybrids coming, but nobody 'saw' a decent one actually coming after the (ongoing) Telsa fiasco.

@JoeKing: We had the embargoed shots a week before, and we even posted on it the day before. ZERO excitement at the actual reveal.

@eltonito: Excellent point, and perhaps I gave Apple too much credit, but they're just such a good example of the "abra-cadabra" showmanship. The electronics industry as a whole "gets it" so much more than the auto industry. Even SEMA is more exciting, even if it does seem to have degenerated into a pissing match over which company can make the biggest chrome rims for your Hummer.

I think part of the problem is that no auto company has a CEO or senior management member (well, maybe Maximum Bob, but I'm starting to think he's spent a little too much time at high altitude with the canopy open) with the charisma to pull it off the way Jobs does. Dr. Z came close, but he reminds me a little too much of a German version of the guy from My Classic Car with the twirly mustache.

@dearthair: Ray's been on television plenty before, and I am not quite sure what I could say that has Jalopnik folks waiting with baited breath... no question, Ray presents himself very professionally, is young, knowledgeable and handsome, and I'd do him in a New York minute... but that's pretty much my trademark, so why the suspense...?

Hooray to Ray for putting a handsome face on Jalopnik (seriously!).

@Ray Wert: You're right. My enthusiasm for the Fisker missed the date of the first article... DOWN WITH THE EMBARGO!!!

A couple random thoughts as I don't seem to be able to create a fully coherent post:

*Apple is a tough comparo. In their field they are still a small player (except for portable players, of course), so things like showmanship are very important to them in order to gain media mind share. This concept might work for small players like Fisker or the exotic mfrs, but the big players? Can they keep it in their pants long enough for the buzz to work?

*Unlike the consumer electronics, cars are very tough to keep quiet long enough to generate any buzz. For example, its easy to hide a prototype cell phone or computer from public view, not so easy with a new car or truck. When an entire cottage industry has developed around you to photograph your latest creation and sell the pics to the high bidder, how can any product buzz be created about it? One big reason Apple's product reveals are exciting is becuase no one has seen reliable spy shots of their latest toy.

*Can the automakers hide new products long enough for a "jump ball" reveal to work? I don't think so and neither can they, hence the reliance on embargoes. Look at how much bandwidth was spent on endlessly yapping about the Corvette ZR1, the Challenger, the new Camaro, etc, etc. Everyone has a camera in their hands and everyone has internet access to share their juicy morsel of info with the world. It may have been easier when the few auto journos had the same contacts giving them the same inside info. Nowadays the number of "reporters" has exploded and sources have grown with it.

Anyway, thoughts are too scrambled to tie it all together. I guess my point is the automakers are prolly too big and too bureaucratic to control everything properly in order to maximize the buzz. There are lessons to learn and good examples to follow, though.

It is simple. The big print mags still hold sway. They are in the process of loosing some of that sway, but they still hold the majority of it. The question is, how far will their sway fall?

So when the show was over did Devin Scillian whip out his guitar and serenade you with some sweet Detroit Hoedown country?

Wert seemed drunk to me.

@Charles_Barrett: Aww, shucks, thanks Charles, you're a sweetheart. I'm very flattered.

@SLRSpeedshop: I thought I was hiding it so much better.

@Ray Wert: Maybe you, Charles, Wes and I can all go on a date!

ray, you're just pissed because they only called you the senior editor, aren't you?

Ray's point is well taken. For one thing, it's a little harder to pay attention at press conferences when you can practically recite the embargoed press release in unison with the guy reading off the teleprompter.

Hell, a lot of stuff that's debuting isn't even covered. Even the stuff that is can be easily recognized, X6 for instance. Sure, BMW rolled the 1 Series 'vert out onto a runway with Time Machine rings around it. But it was less interesting than the woman in the white gi/coveralls who was doing a combination of dance, acrobatics and martial arts. Her flexibility was the biggest surprise there. And damn memorable, too.

@Ray Wert: Anytime baby. You're all that and a bag o' chips, as they say in the 'hood (so I am told). [chips=crisps for our anglo Jalops 'tho they already know we do a few things wierd on this side of the Atlantic pond.

And let's get Wes in on it as POLAR suggests if at all possible. He's a sweetie (needs a haircut, 'tho, as Grandpa would say...), but tidy otherwise...

@dearthair: Well I agree with you. The Jalop is, as 'trusted' a source as i want.

But what is there to "Boom!" about when an Altima is declared Most Desirable? When the 'think different' of the car world [saturn of GM] is really just re-badged Opel?

I say 'whatever' to the embargoes, let that fall wherever, and let us drop the whole Henry Ford worship. It's mass production that's got us in this mess in the first place.

You just have to know something is wrong with it all as a whole when the Cadillac CTS is declared most dramatic at a show where one can see and hear the Mazda Furai, and Shady Chinese manufacturers are driving cars inside, Fer Fuc's Sake!

I did a lot of fast forwarding through that video to hear what Ray had to say, which made the whole video sort of a Max Headroom trippy experience. Jaaa jaa job point.

I missed this post completely as I shut the laptop off and went to make a quick martini. I saw Ray on Flashpoint Sunday morning...thought it was a taller Mitch Albom at first.

Point on the embargo vs. buzz. It's a double edged sword. GM tossed the Camaro out way early to create a buzz and they over did it. Same with the Volt. The buzz would be far greater now if they played the creation of those cars a bit softer. So an embargo does have its advantages. Its all timing of course.

The flip side is the Dodge Ram presentation for any sort of short term buzz. I think more people remember two bovine fornicating and the rest of the posse dropping crap on Washington Blvd more than the truck intro. Or was the real event having Tom LaSorda watch Jim Press do the intro. Now we know that Tom is a true #3 at Chrysler.

Its time for Chrysler to drop the wild product intro's, that was a Bob Lutz 90's thing and come up with something original.

Personally, I wish the carmakers would go back to wild, futuristic concepts. To me that creates a buzz at an Autoshow.

I may have missed this at some point, but if they don't want you information spreaders spreading this information before a certain time, why do they give it to you?

@Ray Wert: Thinking of it beyond the actual reveal, it doesn't seem like many cars have any press or buzz more than a few weeks before and after the reveal. This is the real issue - the iPhone and the Wii both milked media buzz for continuously for months, if not a year. How do you do this with a product that takes years of development?

I can think of very few cars in my lifetime that sustained the buzz almost continuously from the reveal - the Miata, the New Beetle, the Prius, the aborted Microbus, the MINI.

Why is the Volt not a weekly news piece in the AP or Reuters? Why aren't we talking about it once a week? Where is the buzz on what should be a revolutionary form of transportation?