By Julio Cesar Rivas

Detroit, Jan 12 (EFE).– More than 40 vehicles will make their debuts at the North American International Auto Show, or NAIAS, the most important event of its kind in the United States and one of the most prominent in the world, in Detroit.

The new offerings at the show, which opens its doors on Monday, will be introduced over the first two days, Jan. 11 and Jan. 12, which are reserved for the media.

The NAIAS will open its doors to the general public from Jan. 16-24.

The White House said Saturday that President Barack Obama would make his first visit to the NAIAS on Jan. 20, becoming only the third president to tour the show.

During Obama’s first term, Detroit and the U.S. auto industry were on the brink of collapse amid the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

General Motors and the former Chrysler Group were able to survive, thanks to a massive infusion of government money.

Seven years later, the U.S. auto industry just ended its best year on record, selling more than 17 million units in 2015, and General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, or FCA, keep ringing up hundreds of millions of dollars in earnings each year.

The outlook for 2016 is optimistic, thanks to the strength of the U.S. economy and low gasoline prices, which are propelling sales of SUVs, pick-up trucks and high-end cars, the kinds of models that generate higher profits for manufacturers.

Detroit’s Big Three – GM, Ford and FCA – will unveil important innovations in coming days that will reach dealerships over the next few months.

In the market for high-end and luxury vehicles, NAIAS will present a large number of innovations from global and North American automakers.

Due to global sales growth in this expensive market segment, South Korea’s Hyundai decided to create its own line of luxury vehicles, following the examples of Japan’s Toyota, with Lexus, Honda, with Acura, and Nissan, with Infinity, branding it Genesis, the name of its current deluxe sedan.

In Detroit, Hyundai will unveil the 2017 Genesis G90 to replace the Equus, the brand’s current top-line model.

German automakers Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche and Audi will start unveiling new offerings for the year on Monday.

The Japanese automakers also have new offerings, with Infinity showcasing the new Q60 coupe, the QX60 SUV and the Q50 sedan, while Lexus will present its LC 500.

Volvo, for its part, is expected to introduce the S90 sedan in Detroit after the success of the XC90 SUV. EFE

Very Smart Cars

This year’s auto show will see Detroit and Silicon Valley on the same page insofar as delivering hi-tech driving experiences.

The General Motors Bolt EV can not only go 200 miles on a single battery, it also features interesting features such as a rear-camera mirror, which allows giver a detailed look at everything that is going on in the back. With a single push of a button, the image returns to that of a traditional mirror.

Gorilla Glass, that special material used to manufacture smartphone touchscreens, is coming to windshields on select Ford Motor Company models. Speaking of Ford, the company will also debut FordPass, a smart and intuitive rival to OnStar.

As far as self-driving cars, Mercedes-Benz is ready to go to market with an E-Class sedan that is not only luxurious but also semi-autonomous thanks to its Intelligent Aerodynamic Automobile (IAA), which sounds like it was taken out of a Transformers movie:

At the touch of a button, or automatically on reaching a speed of 80 km/h, the Mercedes-Benz “Concept IAA” performs a fascinating transformation in which the captivatingly beautiful four-door coupé turns into an aerodynamics world champion: eight segments extend at the rear, increasing its length by up to 390 millimetres; front flaps in the front bumper extend by 25 millimetres to the front and 20 millimetres to the rear, improving the air flow around the front end and the front wheel arches; the Active Rims alter their cupping from 55 millimetres to zero; and the louvre in the front bumper moves 60 millimetres to the rear, improving the underbody air flow.