The little guy is making a big statement in the car business.
Forget the Big Three. Or the Detroit Three, or the worldwide bakers' dozen of car makers. The remarkable take-away from this year's North American International Auto Show, open to the public in Detroit this week, is how innovative and interesting smaller carmakers have become.
Forget all the gloom and doom you are hearing. Speaking strictly from the technological perspective, this is a particularly good year for innovation for all things that roll. Automakers both domestic and international are showing that they are taking solving the problems of today's vehicles seriously. BMW, Volkswagen, GM (Stock Quote: GM) and Ford (Stock Quote: F), to name a few, are all showing significant steps away from traditional internal combustion engines.
All-electric vehicles, like the new Mini and the soon-to-market Volt, are getting most of the media love here. But just as important for these larger makers are fuel-efficient diesel technologies, which offer far higher fuel efficiencies and lower costs to own, which can give a real boost to small businesses looking to manage the cost of their vehicles.
But to my eye, the smaller automakers are the stars of this show. Many of these smaller brands are already chic, including the uber-sexy Tesla Motors and the Smart vehicle, a unit of Daimler AG (Stock Quote: DAI).
But several other small and medium-sized businesses are also making a difference in cars. Here are two of my favorite automotive mini-me's cutting the trails for an exciting tomorrow:
