CHICAGO, Feb 11: US automakers are seeking to hold their ground at the Chicago Auto Show in the face of the rising power of Asian carmakers, especially Toyota, which is vying to muscle into the top truck segment.

The Chicago show, which opened to the public on Friday, is considered the unofficial kickoff to the US auto industry’s critical spring selling season.

Paul Brian, the spokesman for the show, describes it as the biggest show of its kind geared specifically for consumers looking for a new car or truck.

Thus, the show usually gets attention from the auto industry’s top executives, who are predicting that sales of new cars in 2006 will match the totals posted in 2005, the third best in history.

Jim Press, president of Toyota Motor Sales, was visible during the previews, hosting two different vehicle introductions, including the first look at a new version of the Tundra, which aims to take on Detroit in the full-size pickup truck segment.

Press said the growth in the US population will be good for automakers, not only Toyota but struggling American rivals such as General Motors and Ford.

The market’s growing and these young people are coming in, he said. It’s a global business and everyone is going to be able to expand to give the customers the products they want.

Press noted that Toyota is strong in the US market where it could soon replace Chrysler Group as third in total sales. But he added that Hyundai, the South Korean automaker, is coming on strong.

“We are paranoid. We keep our eye on everybody,” Press said.

Toyota’s focus is customers and its own internal benchmarks, not on passing General Motors as the world’s largest automaker, Press told AFP.

“We may (become the biggest). I don’t know. It depends more on what GM does and doesn’t do than what we’re going to do,” he said.

The Chrysler Group, the US unit of German-US giant DaimlerChrysler, showed off a new concept truck that included hints of future designs from the most successful of the American manufacturers.

Tom LaSorda, the group’s chief executive, said Chrysler is prepared to take on the Asian rivals on their own terms. Chrysler Group boosted sales outside the US by nine per cent last year and passed Ford to become the second largest seller of new vehicles in Canada.

Its all about fighting it out at the retail level and we’re prepared to do this, said LaSorda.

GM chairman and chief executive Rick Wagoner canceled his appearance in Chicago after GM announced a new round of cuts as part of its ongoing effort to contain costs in the wake of its 8.6 billion-dollar loss for 2005.

But Ford and GM used the show as a platform for showing off their latest in big SUVs such as the Lincoln Navigator and Chevrolet Avalanche despite the cool reception by Americans consumers in the face of surging fuel costs.

Hyundai, which has been aggressively trying to match up with Toyota in North America and Asia, also unveiled its first minivan. The new Entourage minivan comes with a whole range of new safety technologies as well as more room than any other vehicle in the hotly contested minivan segment.

John Krafcik, head of product development for Hyundai’s North American operations, said the new minivan will put the South Korean automaker in a new segment.—AFP