A song frequently played around the end of the year says, in part, “…It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” For car nut auto journalists, that song should have been ringing throughout the land as the press events for the New York Auto Show got under way last week.

As usual, the week began with the Buick luncheon, held at Cipriani’s on 42nd Street. Housed in a former bank building, the restaurant’s décor revolves around former teller windows, opulent flooring and the ornate ceiling that characterize the early 20th century cathedral of commerce. The food? Well, let’s talk about the cars.

Buick displayed the original Y-Job, considered the first concept car ever made. This car pointed toward the styling and technology that would characterize cars of the future. In much the same way, another concept car on hand, the Riviera, points to what Buick sees as its future. While Buick executives on hand said that the car in its entirety won’t be produced, perhaps enough arm twisting by those visiting the show can make it happen, because the car is simply beautiful. Laid back sweeping waterfall grill, flowing headlights whose many lines are so skillfully integrated it doesn’t look overly busy, stylized portholes along the fenders, slim, aerodynamic side-view mirrors and gull wing doors distinguish the Riviera from the outside. The interior looks no less breathtaking with a bold center console, a dashboard that sweeps into the doors and rich looking leather. The “Rivy” can be seen twirling slowly on the GM stand at the show.

Wednesday saw the press previews at the Javits Center. Roughly every 40 minutes, a particular manufacturer rolls out it latest models or concept cars to the accompaniment of flashing lights, smoke, energetic models and blaring music - so loud - as to cause pain. Then, some stiff corporate type reads from a prompter telling of all the success and future plans for the company. It was telling that Ford had no such roll out (no new products) and Ferrari declined to be at the show at all (deciding not enough was going with them to justify the costs to be at the venue). Ferrari can get away with it. Ford, bleeding cash all over the place, desperately needs some new iron to get the marketplace excited, despite being heavily troubled by expensive gas. Different stripes on the Mustang will get you only so far these days.

Among the highlights: 

Acura showed off its new TSX, which, despite being an entirely new model that’s longer, lower and wider, with a new grill, looks pretty much like the current model. Set to debut in 2009, the new TSX will be joined by a new RL and TL. The Acura spokesman, who pronounced the brand, “ACK-ra,” told of a joint venture with W Hotels that will have guests chauffeured in the MDX SUVs and vehicle test drives available to selected guests.

Mercedes-Benz fawned all over itself announcing that its clean-burning, high-mileage Bluetech diesels will be available in all 50 states. Diesels do indeed present features that make them desirable in the near future. On average, the engines get 20 to 40 percent better fuel economy, and their improved torque and excellent acceleration make for swift getaways in urban traffic situations. Unfortunately, Mercedes Benz, whose intro event took the theme of a political rally, chose to show off the technology on its SUVs, the M-, R- and GL-Class. Think how many more MPG and lower emissions would be had with the technology on a small, lightweight sedan or station wagon. In its home market, Mercedes personnel would be hard-pressed to find an SUV. It seems they're hurting themselves, and the marketplace, by concentrating Bluetech on a vehicle type that many are abandoning in favor of more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Nissan introduced the new Maxima. Better looking than the old model, the new car promises better fuel economy, more power and a new CVT transmission. It should be available by summer. A new Murano will be seen in July. Most exciting to enthusiasts is the GT-R. Called the Skyline in Japan, this car has been making car nuts salivate for more than 15 years. While it is finally available in the U.S., you’ll have to wait on a long line to get one. Nissan also talked up its Green Program that will feature the release of an all-electric vehicle in 2010.

GM’s product boss Bob Lutz, still consumed with performance, debuted three new rear-wheel-drive Pontiacs: the Solstice Coupe, G8 GXP sedan, and a vehicle whose form is similar to that of the 60’s era El Camino called the G8 Sport Truck, though that’s not its final name. GM is holding a contest that will have some lucky member of the public choose the final moniker of the vehicle. Rapper 50 Cent assisted in the intro, though he couldn’t quite remember all that he liked about the vehicles. The journalist crowd, dominated by those old enough to once have been excited by Bill Haley, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry, barely raised an eyebrow when “fitty” was introduced, though cameras surrounded him once the formal presentation ended. A bigger crowd swarmed Mr. Lutz, who admitted that new CAFÉ regulations, requiring much more stringent MPG figures by 2020, will require that 80 percent of GM’s fleet will have to go the hybrid route to survive.  There is “no way we can sell a reasonable number of SUVs with the new CAFÉ requirement,” Lutz said. “All of these,” referring to the new models, “will eventually have to go away.” In stating the obvious, Mr. Lutz, seeming irritated by the requirements, called the CAFÉ regulations a political football.

Honda showed off the new Fit Sport, a performance model of the popular, high-mileage subcompact. But, off to the side of Honda’s show area in relative obscurity, was a beautiful preview of the future that we hope we’ll see more of. The FCX Clarity is a lovely car that uses hydrogen fuel cell technology. Honda is making the car available to fleets in the coming year, and to regular customers soon thereafter. Of course, the problem with hydrogen cars is the lack of fuel stations. Honda has taken care of that with its Home Energy Station. One of the ways of producing Hydrogen gas is to convert it from natural gas, the same stuff your stove burns. The Home Energy Station connects to the home gas line to fill up the Clarity. Unfortunately, it seems that Honda removed the car from its display for the public portion of the show, so you’ll have to rely on the C&T Website to get a glimpse of this gorgeous example of what the future holds.

Land Rover displayed a new concept called the LRX that the company describes as a cross-coupe. It looks like a rugged, off-road two door and we hope it shows the future for Land Rover, whose boxy SUVs we’ve found to be uncomfortable and overly pricey.

Volvo, following BMW’s formula, introduced a new smaller SUV, the XC60, that compliments the big brother XC90. The vehicle has a new safety feature, called “City Safety” that automatically applies the brakes at low speeds when it appears the driver is taking no action when a crash is imminent below nine miles-per-hour. Such low speed crashes can cause more harm than many high-speed mishaps due to the vehicle’s safety features not being activated at such low speeds. The forces are then sent entirely to the bodies of the occupants, resulting in injuries to the back and neck. There isn’t much related to safety that gets past Volvo.

Suzuki looks ready to go upmarket from its small, putt-putt cars to some really slick sedans. The three Kizashi concept cars supposedly point the way for future vehicles from the Japanese maker. We can only hope that the company will have the guts to produce cars that closely mimic the concepts.

Also noteworthy were the BMW 1-Series, whose price takes it perilously close to the 3-Series cars. BMW also showed the Concept CS, which is what the new 7-Series should look like. A very nice looking car. The new Challenger by Dodge looks great, but is a throwback to a bygone era and must be seen only as a toy for the aging Baby Boomer trying to relive their youth.

The Department of Energy and other sponsors took time to announce the car-based “X” Prize that promises millions of dollars to teams that come up with a car that can achieve 100 miles per gallon. A previous X Prize of $10 million went to Mojave Aerospace Ventures that flew the first private vehicle into space. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was on hand to throw his support behind the Auto X Prize, and, among other things, tout his congestion pricing idea as one way to curb pollution. Earlier in the week, the Mayor called the delay in getting the idea passed “shenanigans.” Do you think the Mayor would exempt 100 mpg cars from having to pay the fee if it is approved? We wonder.

On the lower level of the show, you can find a foam mockup of the Mach 5, cartoon character Speed Racer’s car from the 60’s era TV program. Not the least bit functional, the car was on hand to promote the upcoming film. We love car-based fantasy.

These are just some of the things you’ll see at the show. There will be others that will catch your eye that we may have missed, or found to be unexciting. Overall, while there are many new models that acknowledge our plights of high gas prices, bad air pollution levels and compromised safety, many manufacturers seem stuck in a time warp. We need lots more fuel-efficient cars that are cleaner burning. Car companies that miss this trend will continue to see red ink on their bottom line to their peril, and that of the motoring public as well.