Honda will be in Detroit, sans press conference

The latest sign that the 2009 Detroit Auto Show could quite possibly suck is Honda's decision not to throw any press conferences. The Japanese automaker still plans to unveil the production Insight hybrid, but will do so by simply adding its Prius-killer to the show floor with the rest of its line-up. The move comes one day after Nissan and Infiniti pulled out of Detroit all-together, which followed dropouts by Porsche, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Ferrari, Land Rover and Rolls-Royce. Honda doesn't want to spend big bucks on live introductions with special effects and big-time travel budgets when the U.S. auto market is in the crapper. The Japanese brand won't roll out any press conferences in Chicago, either. If Detroit is going to be slow, Chicago is shaping up to be a ghost town. The question now is, who's next? The Detroit Auto Show has traditionally been the event where our Domestics bring out the big guns. With all the negative attention surrounding the financial woes of Detroit automakers, we're beginning to wonder it they too will drop the glitz and glitter. If they're getting grilled for taking a private jet to Washington, imagine the field day that would be had over big money productions that only benefit journalists. [Source: Automotive News, subs. req'd]