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Our friends over at GM Canada invited me to take part in the NAIAS taking place at the Cobbo Center in Detroit. Let me tell you, I had no idea what was in store for me. (Check out some of the posts I did about it here.) I attended during the media preview, just a few days before the show was open to the public. There were so many people in attendance from media outlets all over the world, as well as from all the car brand teams from office around the globe. Makes for an interesting and busy few days.

What I enjoyed the most about this trip was having the opportunity to sit down with Sr. Executives, Design teams, Engineer teams from Chevrolet, Buick,  Cadillac and really understand first hand their goals and challenges through the various steps of conceiving a vehicle and releasing it to the market. As a marketing fanatic it was priceless to sit with the head of marketing for Chevrolet and learn more about the various marketing tactics they would be looking to, to appeal to a younger demographic. I was happy to see that there was a lot of non traditional initiatives that most brands even outside of automotive are reluctant to embrace. I think that willingness to engage with their consumer surely puts them ahead of the curve in that respect.
Did you know that in the US all marketing and advertising of the Sonic in 2011 was done online? No traditional advertising was done to support the release of the vehicle, yet 2011 was a very successful year for the Sonic.

Another highlight of my trip was attending the Warran Tech Centre, which is the home of GM engineers, designers and technicians since 1956. The place was colossal and futuristic in every way. While there I got to see their 3D Visualization center where they test out vehicles and configurations, having to be done in 3D to show the depth and width of the product, and simulate a passenger’s interaction in the vehicle. I even got to put on some cool 3D shades and sit in the simulation driver’s seat where I was able to  sit in the Traverse in 3D form (of course) and even experience being in the front site and back seat, all with the aid of the 3D shades. The technology blew my mind, and was the most surreal I had ever seen it 


This is also where we got to see the new Chevrolet concept vehicles Chevrolet Code 130R & Tru 140S  brought to life in 3D with an explanation from each of the designers. What a cool experience.
Chevrolet Code 130R

Chevrolet Tru 140S

NAIAS was a good time, met some lovely people, sat in on some great discussions and got to understand the feel and make of each GM brand much better. I look forward to getting your thoughts on their new concepts vehicles in my post tomorrow. I leave you with a few of the pics I took.