DETROIT: The North American International Auto Show in Detroit opened to the press this week with one big question hanging in the air: How will autonomous vehicles change the industry?
The answer is still unclear. In the meantime, automakers continue to put out new vehicles of all shapes and sizes, including small cars, SUVs and the all-mighty pickup truck, which dominated the show.
All will be on display when the show opens to the public Saturday, with a charity preview on Friday night.
Here are five things we learned from the preview this week:
TRUCKS ARE KING
Pickups are the most popular vehicles in the US, and trucks unveiled at the show make clear that will continue for a long time.
General Motors spent heavily to update its top-selling Chevrolet Silverado pickup, cutting up to 450 pounds of weight by using more aluminum and lighter high-strength steel. The truck also gets two new V8 engines that can run on one to eight cylinders depending on how much power is needed.
Fiat Chrysler’s Ram also got big updates, losing more than 200 pounds and giving it a gas-electric hybrid engine option. Both the Silverado and Ram were given more athletic stances and meaner looks. Ford added a diesel engine to its F-150 and rolled out the midsize Ranger.
Automakers turn big profits on large pickups. Sales rose nearly 6 percent last year to almost 2.4 million, even though total US auto sales dropped 2 percent. Ford’s F-Series is the country’s top-selling vehicle, followed by the Silverado and Ram.
TAX REFORM BOOST?
US auto sales are likely to fall to around 16.7 million in 2018 from 17.2 million last year, says Michelle Krebs, an executive analyst with the car buying site Autotrader.com.
But that would still make it one of the 10 best sales years in history, so the market remains strong.
US income tax code changes this year may stimulate new auto sales, but any increase likely will be offset by rising interest rates and the abundant supply of late-model used cars that pull buyers from new vehicles, Toyota Motor Corp.’s top North American executive says.
North American CEO Jim Lentz expects a sales boost of 200,000 vehicles as tax cuts put more money in people’s pockets. But the increase could be negated as rising rates keep some people on the sidelines, and some buyers opt for a lower-cost but nice off-lease used car.
Tax cuts could boost pickup truck sales because businesses can write off the expenses immediately under the new code, Lentz said.
But he expects luxury new-car sales to be flat this year even though tax rates were reduced for higher-income earners. Any decrease could be wiped out by caps on deductions for mortgage interest and local and state taxes in big luxury-car states such as New York and California, Lentz said.
TRADE DEAL
Many auto executives interviewed at the auto show say they’re afraid the US might pull out of the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, but they can’t prepare for it because they don’t know what, if anything will replace it.
In ongoing negotiations with Mexico and Canada, the Trump administration is seeking to ensure that more vehicles are made in America, among other changes. But Jim Lentz, Toyota’s North American CEO, says ending the agreement would likely raise costs. That, in turn, would raise vehicle prices and cut demand, forcing manufacturing layoffs. It also would make the US less competitive than the world’s other manufacturing centers, he said. Ending the agreement also could force some suppliers to stop making parts. Charlie Chesbrough, the chief economist for Cox Automotive, said it’s hard to imagine there will be much change in production, because automakers need a long lead time to act and they know the next president could reverse Trump’s actions. But some automakers are already taking pre-emptive steps to show the administration they’re willing to boost US production. Fiat Chrysler said ahead of the auto show that it will move heavy duty truck production from Mexico to Michigan in 2020.
HEDGING ON ROBOT CARS
Automakers are hedging their bets when it comes to autonomous vehicles and whether they will someday cut into or even end personal car ownership.
In interviews through the week, executives said they’re preparing for a time when people hire self-driving ride services to get around instead of spending on personal vehicles.
But they don’t know just when that will take place, so they also must continue to spend millions to develop conventional vehicles as well.
“These proclamations that we hear about the advent of electrification and artificial intelligence ... are all things that, at best, are conjecture,” said Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne.
Although some companies plan to deploy driverless cars to carry passengers in coming months, Marchionne says it will take years for the vehicles to be in widespread use.
Mark Reuss, General Motors’ head of product development says he wishes he knew exactly when and where the switch would take place. But for now, GM and other companies have to be in both places.
“We can go either way and that agility is priceless,” said Reuss.
GOOD OLD DAYS
Despite the new wheels on the show floor, one of the biggest hits is a 50-year-old Mustang GT fastback in need of a paint job. It was one of the original cars used in the 1968 film “Bullitt,” which put the Mustang on the map with a famous chase scene.
Ford Motor Co. rolled it out to help celebrate a special “Bullitt” edition Mustang, which goes on sale this summer. The faded green car got a huge cheer when it rumbled onto the stage.
Autonomous cars loom, but the Detroit auto show goes on
Autonomous cars loom, but the Detroit auto show goes on
World must prioritize resilience over disruption, economic experts warn
- Al-Jadaan said that much of the anxiety dominating markets reflected a world that had already been shifting for years
- Pointing to Asia and the Gulf, Al-Jadaan said that some countries had already built models based on diversification and resilience
DAVOS: Saudi Arabia’s Finance Minister Mohammed Al-Jadaan urged policymakers and investors to “mute the noise” and focus on resilience, as global leaders gathered in Davos on Friday against a backdrop of trade tensions, geopolitical uncertainty and rapid technological change.
Speaking on the final day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Al-Jadaan said that much of the anxiety dominating markets reflected a world that had already been shifting for years.
“We need to define who ‘we’ are in this so-called new world order,” he said, arguing that many emerging economies had been adapting to a more fragmented global system for decades.
Pointing to Asia and the Gulf, Al-Jadaan said that some countries had already built models based on diversification and resilience. In energy markets, he pointed out that the focus should remain on balancing supply and demand in a way that incentivized investment without harming the global economy.
“Our role in OPEC is to stabilize the market,” he said.
His remarks were echoed by Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Economy and Planning Faisal Alibrahim, who said that uncertainty had weighed heavily on growth, investment and geopolitical risk, but that reality had proven more resilient.
“The economy has adjusted and continues to move forward,” Alibrahim said.
Alibrahim warned that pragmatism had become scarce, trust increasingly transactional, and collaboration more fragile. “Stability cannot be quickly built or bought,” he said.
Alibrahim called for a shift away from preserving the status quo towards the practical ingredients that made cooperation work, stressing discipline and long-term thinking even when views diverged.
Quoting Saudi Arabia’s founding King Abdulaziz Al-Saud, he added: “Facing challenges requires strength and confidence, there is no virtue in weakness. We cannot sit idle.”
President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde stressed the importance of distinguishing meaningful data from headline noise, saying: “Our duty as central bankers is to separate the signal from the noise. The real numbers are growth numbers not nominal ones.”
Managing Director of the IMF Kristalina Georgieva echoed Lagarde’s sentiments, saying that the world had entered a more “shock prone” environment shaped by technology and geopolitics.
Director General of the World Trade Organization Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said that the global trade systems currently in place were remarkably resilient, pointing out that 72 percent of global trade continued despite disruptions.
She urged governments and businesses, however, to avoid overreacting.
Okonjo Iweala said that a return to the old order was unlikely, but trade would remain essential. Georgieva agreed, saying global trade would continue, albeit in a different form.
Georgieva warned that AI would accelerate economic transformation at an unprecedented speed. The IMF expects 60 percent of jobs to be affected by AI, either enhanced or displaced, with entry-level roles and middle-class workers facing the greatest pressure.
Lagarde warned that without cooperation, capital and data flows would suffer, undermining productivity and growth.
Al-Jadaan said that power dynamics had always shaped global relations, but dialogue remained essential. “The fact that thousands of leaders came here says something,” he said. “Some things cannot be done alone.”
In another session titled Geopolitical Risks Outlook for 2026, former US Democratic representative Jane Harman said that because of AI, the world was safer in some ways but worse off in others.
“I think AI can make the world riskier if it gets in the wrong hands and is used without guardrails to kill all of us. But AI also has enormous promise. AI may be a development tool that moves the third world ahead faster than our world, which has pretty messy politics,” she said.
American economist Eswar Prasad said that currently the world was in a “doom loop.”
Prasad said that the global economy was stuck in a negative-feedback loop and economics, domestic politics and geopolitics were only bringing out the worst in each other.
“Technology could lead to shared prosperity but what we are seeing is much more concentration of economic and financial power within and between countries, potentially making it a destabilizing force,” he said.
Prasad predicted that AI and tech development would impact growing economies the most. But he said that there was uncertainty about whether these developments would create job opportunities and growth in developing countries.
Professor of international political economy at the University of New South Wales in Australia, Elizabeth Thurbon, said that China was driving a Green Energy transition in a way that should be modeled by the rest of the world.
“The Chinese government is using the Green Energy Transition to boost energy security and is manufacturing its own energy to reduce reliance on fossil fuel imports,” she explained.
Thurbon said that China was using this transition to boost economic security, social security and geostrategic security. She viewed this as a huge security-enhancing opportunity and every country had the ability to use the energy transition as a national security multiplier.
“We are seeing an enormous dynamism across emerging market economies driven by China. This boom loop is being driven by enormous investments in green energy. Two-thirds of global investment flowing into renewable energy is driven largely by China,” she said.
Thurbon said that China was taking an interesting approach to building relationships with countries by putting economic engagement on the forefront of what they had to offer.
“China is doing all it can to ensure economic partnership with emerging economies are productive. It’s important to approach alliances as not just political alliances but investment in economy, future and the flourishment of a state,” she said.
The panel criticized global economic treaties and laws, and expressed the need for immediate reforms in economic governing bodies.
“If you are a developing economy, the rules of the WTO, for example, are not helpful for you to develop. A lot of the rules make it difficult to pursue an economic development agenda. These regulations are not allowing the economies to grow,” Thurbon said.
“Serious reform must be made in international trade agreements, economic bodies and rules and guidelines,” she added.
Prasad echoed this sentiment and said there was a need for national and international reform in global economic institutions.
“These institutions are not working very well so we can reconfigure them or rebuild them from scratch. But unfortunately the task of rebuilding falls into the hands of those who are shredding them,” he said.
WEF attendees were invited to join the Global Collaboration and Growth meeting to be held in Saudi Arabia in April 2026 to continue addressing the complex global challenges and engage in dialogue.
