AUTOSHOW: Top quotes from Detroit auto show

DETROIT (Reuters) - Top automotive industry executives gathered at the media preview for the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, starting on Sunday.

Following are some of the notable quotes:

MIKE JACKSON, CEO, AUTONATION INC

"I have seen a better mood at funerals," he told Reuters TV.

IRV MILLER, GROUP VICE PRESIDENT, TOYOTA MOTOR SALES USA

"Last summer's $4-a-gallon gasoline was no anomaly. It was a brief glimpse of our future."

BEDA BOLZENIUS, AUTO BUSINESS PRESIDENT, JOHNSON CONTROLS

INC

"There was no carmaker CEO out there who has not stated it's completely impossible to predict what 2009 will be."

BOB NARDELLI, CEO, CHRYSLER LLC

"We reduced layers, expanded job responsibility...no one around the table should read this as us trying to position it for sale," he said of Chrysler.

FINBARR O'NEILL, PRESIDENT, J.D. POWER AND ASSOCIATES

"We believe we're near the bottom, or at the bottom. The market will come back, but it won't come back to where it was before," he said of 2009 U.S. auto sales.

"Let's maintain our sense of humor folks. We're going to need it."

"Somebody is the walking dead out there," he said of auto manufacturers.

BOB LUTZ, VICE CHAIRMAN, GENERAL MOTORS CORP