Who would have dreamed a year ago that the big names at the 2009 Chicago Auto Show would be Acura, Hyundai, Kia, and Mazda? Who would have ever imagined that a U.S. auto show would be dominated by companies from Japan and Korea?

Everyone thought the Chicago Auto Show would be a great opportunity for the Big 3 to pull out the stops and put a positive spin on a bad situation. But, instead of a much-needed infusion of confidence, all the Big 3 got was an old-school whuppin’ at the hands of the Foreign 4.

While the Big 3 was busy taking private jets to Washington D.C., closing production facilities and laying off workers at an alarming rate, it seems that the Foreign 4 has been hard at work.

Sure, the Big 3 did unveil some great new cars. But, questions still remain. How quickly can they get these vehicles to market? Are they earmarking bailout money for these projects? (They must be.) But, while the Big 3 wonders, the Foreign 4 plunders, and that’s the name of that tune.

4 new cars from the Foreign 4: The 2010 Acura TSX V-6, the 2010 Hyundai Genesis coupe R-Spec, the 2010 Kia Forte, and the 2009 Mazda MX-5 were displayed at the Chicago Auto Show.

Read the article from Kirk Bell, contributing author to CarReview and Search Chicago, after the jump:

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Chevrolet is bringing back all the old favorites. First, it was the Camaro and now it’s the Corvette Stingray, which they recently unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show.

When Chevrolet started their pitch to get both post-gen and young drivers interested in what they touted as the “Return of the Camaro” the marketers at GM decided to place the car in the first Transformers movie. It turned out to be a very smart move. As Bumblebee, the new Camaro was a big star in the highly successful film and definitely generated some major buzz.

(Photos after the jump)
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Not to be outdone by Toyota, who unveiled their 2010 Tundra last week, Chrysler LLC unveiled a new line of commercial versions of its Dodge Ram truck–the 2500 and 3500 heavy-duty trucks and the 3500, 4500 and 5500 Chassis Cabs–at the Chicago Auto Show.

The most notable thing about these new trucks is that for the first time, Chrysler is making them available with large crew cabs. Now you can take the whole crew out to a job, because the trucks can carry 5-6 passengers without cramming them in there.

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Though facing tough economic times and with no end in sight as auto sales continue to decline, several big name carmakers who pulled out of the Detroit Auto Show participated in the 101st Chicago Auto Show this week in order to strut their stuff and stay in the game.

Auto shows are generally where carmakers unveil and display their newest, hottest vehicles to both industry rivals and the press. But with the current economic crisis affecting this industry on every level, many carmakers have opted out of attending auto shows to reduce expenses.

Auto shows are a form of marketing, and when money is tight, marketing and advertising are the first things that get the axe. For the first time in a long time, major companies sat out Industry Week in Vegas, and the Big 3 failed to run a single ad during the Super Bowl, the biggest ad event of the year.

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Toyota unveiled the 2010 Tundra pickup at the Chicago Auto Show this week, featuring an optional smaller, more fuel-efficient V-8 engine and other features, including an optional flex-fuel powertrain which will allow the vehicle to run on gasoline-ethanol blends.

Toyota is trying to make the Tundra a little greener and a little sleeker, in response to sluggish light truck sales. People who are hurting financially are more prone to buy a truck that gets better gas mileage, without sacrificing too much power. If they can feel good about the environment and still haul large loads, it’s the best of both worlds–and if embraced by consumers–the Tundra pickup and could help Toyota’s overall sales significantly during the second half of 2009.

The economy has been tough on the truck market, so manufacturers are trying to come up with new ways to attract buyers. Let’s see if they buy into the new, improved 2010 Tundra.

Read this article from MSNBC.com after the jump.

The top executive of Hyundai Motor America declared that the auto industry must make some major changes if they hope to survive, including drastically altering its entire business approach, capping executive salaries, raising the bar on fuel economy standards and embracing environmental goals and federal mandates before the government steps in or decides to bail them out.

The Big 3 should listen to John Krafcik, CEO of Hyundai. What he says makes a lot of sense. Had they been doing these things long ago, they might not be in the mess they’re currently in. We’ve gotten too big and bloated in this country; too complacent and too greedy–in the case of many CEO’s and top management—not just in making cars but in just about any form of big business you can think of.

What Krafcik was telling us is not anything new or revolutionary. The Big 3 must know these things as their viability discussions with the big wigs in Washington rapidly approach. What Krafcik outlined is basically what you would read in a book titled, “Car making for Dummies.”

Krafcik is in a position to speak intelligently on this topic. While car sales in this country are plummeting at lightning speed, Hyundai sales are up. It must be a real thorn in the Big 3’s side to have to listen to him, but they should—maybe they can learn something, even at this late date.

I know that a lot of people have been piling and criticizing just about everything the Big 3 does or doesn’t do, but in many ways, it’s well-deserved. If they had been forward-thinking and proactive in doing many of these common sense things, they’d be in much better shape right now.

Read this article, which appeared in the Detroit News, after the jump: