Car lovers defy downturn, dare to dream again at frankfurt show
- Source: Global Times
- [08:11 September 21 2009]
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The Frankfurt auto show buzzed with an amusement park atmosphere as it opened to the public Saturday amid signs that Europe's biggest economy is pulling out of a historic recession.
Despite warnings that the German auto sector is headed for a sales slump now, visitors thronged to photograph new models and plop down inside their favourite sports cars.
"The crisis is not really in people's minds,"Fiat product manager Olivier Willand said as his mini-skirted receptionists welcomed visitors, whose appetite for cars appeared undiminished by the economic downturn.
"Personally I don't feel the recession, and I don't see it in my clients either,"said one visitor, a German tax consultant who gave his name as Frank as he and his wife Sabine headed for the Saab stand.
The festive ambience, with a rocking and wailing Renault Formula One simulator and a rollercoaster-style four-wheel-drive test track, mirrored recent signs that the mood among Europeans is perking up.
Their confidence rose in August for the fifth month running, European Union data shows, with strong gains in Britain, the Netherlands and Germany, which is emerging from its worst slump in 60 years.
Elsewhere in the world, economies are showing clear signs of recovery as well – and visitors came to the Frankfurt show from all over.
As car lovers lounged in the sun on big football pillows provided by Korea's Kia or pressed around Ferraris and BMWs, cloudy unemployment forecasts took a back seat amid the fun, with the beer flowing well before noon.
Though attendance was expected to be noticeably lower than the last show, "it's not a funeral,"noted Eckehart Rotter, press director for the VDA auto federation.
Toyota marketing manager Denis Haecker said, "All the companies here are showing that they are investing in the future, that they are investing in alternative technologies."
Others did not have money for a new car but came to see the wide range of displays.
