CHICAGO -- American car buyers are a fickle crowd and predicting where their tastes will go has never been easy.

 

But even automakers admit they're having a harder time anticipating what consumers want, especially with consumers becoming more fragmented and choosey about everything they buy -- from electronics and automobiles.

 

Chrysler LLC, for example, openly admits they're faced with a hole in their product lineup, lacking an offering in the popular crossover segment.

 

Ford Motor Co. is scrambling to revamp its Taurus sedan after a largely unnoticed makeover a few years ago.

 

And GM wishes it would have been quicker to launch a Chevrolet version of its popular crossover lineup, which is without an entry in the automaker's top-selling brand.

 

The automakers are moving fast to correct the gaps, but they're trying even harder to ensure they're driving the trends instead of following them.

 

"Our industry must be close enough to our customers that we can anticipate their wants and needs before they may recognize them," GM's North America President Troy Clarke said Wednesday at the Chicago Auto Show. "This is important given the long lead times of our industry. We need to sense what people will want four or five years from now."

 

The Chicago show, more than any other U.S. auto show, is a direct appeal to consumers. It's the industry's chance to prove they're in touch with the car buying public as more than 1 million potential customers file through their exhibits in the next few days.

 

When it comes to hitting the right chord with consumers, automakers face more and tougher challenges than companies in most other industries.

 

The time and expense of producing automobiles prevents them from adapting to consumer demands as quickly as a company that produces small electronics, for example.

 

At the same time, misjudging the trends is costly. But hits can be game changing. Take Chrysler's coup when it tapped into the emerging baby boomers demographic in the 1980s with the minivan. That's why automakers are doing more than ever to get a feel of what consumers are looking for.

 

GM's Clarke traveled the country, watching focus groups from behind one-way mirrors, to see and get a sense of what piqued customer interests. GM also is trying to do more to tap its vast dealer network, the automaker's marketing Chief Mark LaNeve said on Wednesday.

 

"You've got to have talented people, the right kind of people," he said. "You've got to spend time with consumers."

 

Some of Ford latest offerings, such as its Work Solutions, which helps businesses manage their fleets and can take an inventory of all the tools in a truck, are a direct result of listening to and watching customers, said Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas.

 

Fields said he saw the need for the fleet management system when he visited a dealer who was frustrated with making several calls just to track down his parts delivery personnel.

 

"Sometimes customers will be vocal about what they want," he said. "But sometimes something looks awkward and we say, 'How can we make it easier for them?' "

 

Chrysler, facing the worst product shortfall of Detroit's Big Three, is working to shorten the time it takes to get a vehicle from the design room to the showroom, said Frank Klegon, executive vice president for product development.

 

The automaker brought a production version of the Dodge Challenger coupe to the show floor 21 months after it was green-lighted.

 

Chrysler pre-sold its entire 6,400 unit 2009 model year run even before the muscle car was unveiled Wednesday.

 

"You see a strong demand for a product in the market and then you work very diligently to deliver," he said.

 

Some in-demand products remain out of the market because of technical limitations. Other times the automaker holds back to draw out the life of a product.

 

For example, Chrysler will introduce diesel and hybrid versions of its Dodge Ram pickup a year after the all new Ram debuts.

 

Tracking consumer tastes, from holding focus groups to perusing Internet chat rooms, have long been a part of the auto industry, but the efforts these days appear to be more genuine, said Jack Nerad, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book.

 

"It's not just to validate their product plans anymore," Nerad said. "They are trying to gain real feedback."

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