Plenty of models to gawk at in Detroit

Roland Jones Business news editor • Profile • E-mail

DETROIT - Tika has almost lost count of the number of times she’s had her picture taken this week.

“Some people say, ‘I just want a picture of you; forget about the car,’” the tall, willowy 22-year-old model quipped as she swished her long dark hair and struck a stunning pose next to a big red Ferrari.

“We get lots of nice compliments and men ask us out, but I just thank them and say, ‘I’m taken, and I’m in love,’” she said, flashing a bulky diamond ring on her engagement finger.

There is plenty to gawk at this week at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. But at the Ferrari display, elegant feminine curves were turning just as many heads as the gorgeous bodywork on the Ferrari FXX sports car, which made its North American debut this week together with the Ferrari 599 GTB — the storied Italian sports car manufacturer’s most powerful V12-engined production car of all time.

Young, shapely women, are a common sight at auto shows; they’re primarily employed to tempt would-be car buyers closer to the cars on display. But they’re not all just pretty faces.

Often professional models, or actresses in their early twenties, many of them are employed as “product specialists,” and they’re expected to know as much about the cars they’re standing next to as your average automotive geek.

“Many of our product specialists have a college degree in communications, theater or business studies; we have some with backgrounds in engineering and design, and occasionally a person with a PhD,” said Margery Krevsky, founder of Productions Plus, a 25-year-old modeling agency in Birmingham, Mich., that provides product specialists for auto shows for the world’s biggest automakers, including Toyota, Nissan and Mercedes.

Jim Seida / MSNBC.com "Some people say, ‘I just want a picture of you; forget about the car,’" says Tika, a model working this week for Ferrari.

“They have to be attractive, of course, but underneath that attractiveness is a mind that has been trained,” she said.

If you think these models can’t tell one Ferrari from another, you'd be surprised. They’re expected to know the history and background of the automotive company they are working for, and they must also know about its vehicles and corresponding vital statistics. Both men and women are employed in the field and they typically spend three to five days in training, sometimes driving the cars they represent and a competitor’s vehicle too so they can discuss the differences with a potential customer at an auto show, said Krevsky.

“These people need to be dedicated because they’re on their feet for six, sometimes eight hours a day,” she said, adding that competition for positions is fierce. “For every person you see on the show floor, I’ve interviewed or re-auditioned 50 people, and in my company I have a department where I’m constantly auditioning. Once someone gets a spot, if they’re really good and helpful they can stay with a car firm for several years.”

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