Dispatch Detroit: LGA to DTW with Mercedes-Benz, GM, Ford and Monica Blaire

I can see Canada. When I land in Detroit, I never feel like I’m home until I drive to the edge of the Detroit River and look out on the horizon. It feels so close that if I shout with all my might, someone across the border may hear me. But the closeness is an illusion, much separates the two sides of the water’s edge.

The international border is the least of Detroit’s news, but there’s something inspiring about living on the edge of the country; its a place of beginnings and endings, of bridges and tunnels.

I can see Canada, because I’m at General Motors world headquarters, looking ahead to 2010 – a new era in automotive thinking. GM will launch the Chevy Volt, and that’s much of what I’m here to learn about, how the nuts and bolts of the Volt will jolt the marketplace with plug-in technology, figuratively and metaphorically. I’ll also learn about the roll Buick, GMC and OnStar will take in the company’s future.

I’m here to visit Ford Motor Company and to get updated on the implementation of green initiatives, and to take a peek at the new Ford Mustang, a pony car after my own heart.

I started my day 600 miles away, but it could have been a million. I ducked in an express train to 59th St, in the holiday hustle and bustle of New York City, toasting the end of 2009 with Mercedes-Benz president, pr and media at Ed’s Chowder House. I quibbled over infrastructure and executive decisions, and reflected a bit on the E-class, too.

But now, I’m here, back in Detroit, my beginnings. Where I learned to write. about music. about cars. about people.

I’m hear to listen, to car executives, to the musicians I seek out for a dose of Detroitism and to the people I care about, who draw me here, no matter how far I wander.

It’s a busy time for most everybody, a flurry of activity capping off a year of wild unpredictability. From my vantage point of the moment, here, in the Renaissance Center, bracing for the unknown roads ahead, there is no map. No magic GPS. No sign. Just observation, experience, and a bit of pioneering.

Tonight, I can see Canada. It’s quiet and thoughtful, here at the end and beginning.

Tagged as: Chevrolet Volt, Detroit River, Ford Motor Company, Ford Mustang, General motors, Mercedes-Benz, Monica Blaire, New York City, Ro Spit