Detroit Auto Show will return to former January slot

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/auto-s...r-january-slot

"The North American International Detroit Auto Show will return to its original January slot in 2025.

The show has been held in September the past two years after a COVID-19 pandemic-induced pause.

Molinari, who is also chairman of the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority that operates Huntington Place, where the show is staged, said the decision was welcome news.
“The Detroit and Southeast Michigan hospitality community, we’re thrilled by this move to have an incredible show during a time of the year that has historically not been the best time to sell major meetings and conventions.”

The summer edition of the auto show was rolled out as a way to reinvigorate an event that has steadily lost attention and participation over the years due to competing shows and changes in the way automakers reach customers. The indoor-outdoor hybrid model in the summer sought to engage the community with more general interest appeal, including free activations and nonautomotive entertainment.

News of the Detroit show reverting to its traditional slot comes as the automotive world descends on Las Vegas for CES, which has attracted many automakers and especially suppliers in recent years looking to showcase their latest technology. Competition from CES had been cited as one potential benefit of moving the Detroit show to the summer.

But Molinari said the winter show just makes better sense. "To have the Detroit International Auto Show back in January is going to be majorly positive for our restaurants and our hotels and our attractions.""

This is great news.

I remember thinking how great it would be to move the show to warm weather. I was wrong. When it happened it became blasé and scattered. Who wanted to go indoors?

The isolation of winter gave it no competition and created a big event to put a burst of energy in the middle of the dog days of winter. Welcome back!

You mean this is bad news!


Keep the Detroit Auto Show in September than to have in the frigid cold days when winter storms can pop up at anytime. This is really mess up! Even Stellantis is not coming to the Auto Show.

I agree with the hospitality guy,good to have at the slowest time of the year as far as local economic impact.

Are you really going to try and compete with Las Vegas head to toe,with its gambling and cheap hookers as a side show?

I can also see Stellantis view point,if there are auto shows across the country it becomes watered down,and just another local event verses the event of the year in Detroit,that every spends the rest of the year building up the anticipation.

I have experienced the same thing with the Mercum classic car auto auction,they are everywhere now and it’s not much different then going to any other auto auction.

I think it would have been cool to go to the auto show in the 50s and 60s,now they all look the same to me,but I have to admit Stellantis and GM and Ford did up their game with the likes of the Camaro,Mustang and Dodge Charger and put a little excitement back into the game.

Finally, someone got it right. It made no sense to have it in the summer/fall months when folks are doing outdoor activities. Nothing to do after the holidays in January. This would have been a great weekend to have the auto show going on. With the Los Angeles Rams in town to play the Lions, fans could kill time going to the auto show before or after the game [[the next day). This scenario wouldn't happen every year, but this year with an auto show, downtown would be jumpin'.

BTW, Richard, Stellantis is discontinuing the Charger, and GM is discontinuing the Camaro. Bad decisions in my opinion.

Are they skipping this years or will they be putting it on twice in four months?

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Originally Posted by sirrealone

Are they skipping this years or will they be putting it on twice in four months?

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Way too late to have it this year. Either way it's now going to revert back to a small consumer show run by the dealers like other cities. Long gone are the days of big corporate displays and journalists arriving from all over the world. Remember when they renovated and expanded the conv. ctr. because it couldn't hold the auto show? They got about 3 good shows out of it before the show started to decline. At least it was a reason to get the conv. center done. They should have a contest where they take the badges off all those boring cuv's and guess which brand it is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sirrealone

Are they skipping this years or will they be putting it on twice in four months?

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I think they confirmed that no show for 2024 in order to prepare for 2025.

Ass backwards

That late summer change over really took off like a lead balloon. I thought there was some chatter, at some point, of tying it into the Dream Cruise. I heard last summer's show was totally lame.

When Mercedes and BMW pulled out of the show several years ago that really hurt.

The whole "move the show outside" thing was due to covid and the move to make EVERYTING outside for a couple years. It makes way more sense to have it in January when it's always been. I'll be happy to escape the doldrums of winter with the Auto Show next year.

Its already dead though. And the car culture [[average people) has died off as well. There's enthusiasts today because of some pretty cool cars but the general public doesn't carry that same sense of pride in their vehicles we once had. It's simply transportation. Sad