Cash for clunkers. I couldn't help thinking about that possibly upcoming government car-purchase incentive program, as I walked the floor the other day at the press preview of the 2009 New York Auto Show. Because free money would be the only thing that could get me excited about what I saw on display at New York City's Javits Center. I can only hope that the state of the auto industry is a lagging indicator, because if it's not, well. . .I hate to be such a pessimist. Look, I was an early advocate for a bailout of GM, because I believe Americans are much better off making servers and cars than nothing more complex than cheeseburgers. However, the vibe at the Auto Show preview was just so depressing, one comes to the inescapable conclusion that the U.S. auto industry is not about to recover anytime soon.

My case studies on this point are the Chrysler and GMC press conferences held during the Auto Show preview. The Chrysler one wasn't a total loss, in that Chrysler vice chairman Jim Press clearly gets that things have changed. Unfortunately, the macroeconomic forces at play won't yield to a broad smile and firm handshake. Press nattered on at great length about green this and efficiency that, and what customers need. He then blew that whole thread to bits by introducing a new Jeep Grand Cherokee. (That's probably not the next car I'll be buying, although I'm no longer considering the Honda Fit after sitting in it and eyeing its toy steering wheel.)

The GMC press conference was far worse. GMC vice president Susan Docherty did not depart one word from the train-wreck of a speech posted on her teleprompter, during her roll-out of the new 2010 GMC Terrain. The truck is billed as a crossover SUV, which means it's some kind of downsized (though not by much) Yukon.

What was disastrous about Docherty's talk was that she used all of the hack buzzwords which presumably point to a reborn GM, without backing any of it up with any shred of evidence that company has changed its act one iota. Which punctuates the point that maybe it just plain can't. The best analogy I could think of was in the 1980s when GM's ads crowed obsessively about the company's "quality," when back in the real world its factory were rolling out cars where the door handles fell off.

If this is how GM responds in the midst of the worse crisis in its history, President Obama didn't go far enough with his firing of CEO Rick Wagoner. He should have canned the whole lot of them.

OK, so if that was the worst of it. What about the other automakers? Well, in fairness, it wasn't just the Chrysler and GM which seemed back on their heels. Ford, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Hyundai/Kia had what I'd characterize as a muted presence at the show. They were there, in force as far as outward appearances are concerned. However, there was little in the way of new products. Indeed, I don't think I saw any hybrid, electric, or fuel-cell vehicles which weren't on display -- and in far more prominent manner -- at last year's show.

Indeed, what shocks me most is how things have shifted 180-degrees in the space of only one year. The 2008 show was one of the most exciting in years. This year's, well, like I said up top, let's hope it's not a leading indicator.

OK, here are my auto show pictures. I've got nearly 100 of them, with 10 embedded here and the rest accessible if you click on to the next post. (A win-win; you get to see the pictures, I get the page views.)

P.S. You can write to me directly at alex@alexwolfe.net.

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Fiat Cincequento, the iPod of cars.

2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Dodge Challenger SRT.

Dodge Challenger SRT.

View of the show floor at New York's Javits Center.

2009 Dodge Charger R/T all-wheel drive.

Mini Cooper.

Mini Cooper.

Mustang Shelby Cobra.

Mustang Shelby Cobra .

Click the link to see more car pictures from the 2009 NY Auto Show.

Click to see more car pictures.