Chicago Auto Show 'About Trucks And SUVs More So Than Ever'

CHICAGO (WWJ) - The 2015 Chicago Auto Show is about to pick up where the North American International Auto Show left off.

"It's great to see Chicago back," says Kelly Blue Book analyst Karl Brauer.

As the auto industry recovered from the recession, car companies had concentrated more of their product reveals on the shows in Detroit, Los Angeles and New York — leaving less to show in Chicago.

But as sales are moving back toward pre-recession levels, there are more products to be revealed, and some important vehicles will be shown for the first time during the Chicago Auto Show preview days, Thursday and Friday.

"This year's auto show seems to be about trucks and SUV's more so than ever," said Brauer.

That includes a new version of the Chevrolet Equinox and an all new Honda Pilot.  Toyota will show several performance varients of vehicles, and Ram will have a unique pickup variant.

Ford, which unveiled an all new version of its Explorer SUV at the Los Angeles Auto Show, will unveil the Police Interceptor version of that vehicle in Chicago.

"Our Police Interceptor Utility is the best-selling police vehicle in America because we have a unique relationship with our customers," said Jonathan Honeycutt, Ford North American marketing manager for Police Vehicles. "By listening to the Ford Police Advisory Board, we have engineered a vehicle that officers love."

Both the Explorer and the Police Interceptor version are made in Chicago.

Mitsubishi also has an auto plant in Illinois.  It plans to use the auto show to raise awareness of the brand, which tends to get lost in the shadow of other, larger companies.

News leaked out late last week that GM plans to use the Chicago Auto Show to announce that it will build the Chevrolet Bolt electric car at the Orion Assembly Plant, in Oakland Country.

"The Bolt is expected to be based on the same architecture as the (Chevy) Sonic," said LMC Automotive analyst Jeff Schuster.   "Which is why Orion is an ideal location."

The Bolt is expected to have a 200 mile range, and sell for around $30,000 dollars, with government credits.  That would make it competitive with an upcoming mass market model from Tesla.

The Chicago Auto Show is considered one of the nation's top consumer shows, attracting around a million people to the very large McCormick Place.

Since most of those people have no affiliation with any automaker, car companies consider it a great place to try to attract new customers.

Kelley Blue Book's Karl Brauer says that's why it's so important for car companies to bring their "A-game" to Chicago.

"All the factors are in place to make what shows up in Chicago very popular with the car buying public."

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