Detroit Auto Show Opens as Mustang Stampede Heads for Detroit

The Detroit Auto Show extravaganza kicks off today with a visit by the confessed "I'm an auto guy" President Joe Biden coming to town today. But also heading for D is a "Mustang Stampede", Ford Mustang owners and buyers, as detailed in this amusing read. And good news for our hotels and restaurants.

Registration capped as interest in Mustang stampede surges

Phoebe Wall Howard
Detroit Free Press USA TODAY NETWORK

As summer fades into fall, there's nothing better than going for a pony ride

So it should come as no shock that more than 1,000 Ford Mustang pony cars [[and more than 1,600 owners and passengers) are headed to the Motor City as part of a cross-country stampede that ends at Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit late Wednesday. And those are just the people who officially registered with Ford.

“You can't call it a convoy. It is literally a stampede,” said Diane Flis-Schneider of America's Automotive Trust, who is leading six generations of Mustangs from Tacoma, Washington, plus a camouflaged seventh generation Mustang [[that will be unveiled Wednesday) driven by a Ford engineer.

Word spread of the convoy within the Mustang community and fans have planned ahead to join the celebration from around the country.

Crowds of hundreds have gathered at each stop and Mustang owners have even driven a portion of the route, which has gone from Tacoma to Yakima in Washington; Boise to Salt Lake City; Cheyenne, Wyoming, to Kearney, Nebraska, and Kansas City, Missouri, to Auburn, Indiana, with arrival in Michigan on Wednesday...

...They began their journey on Sept. 6. Ford Motor Co. capped registration for its official stampede scheduled to go Wednesday night from Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn to downtown Detroit as part of the North American International Auto Show - to be followed by the big reveal of the 2024 Mustang.

Mustang owners registered from almost every state, coast to coast. They're flying in. And they're driving in from all over the U.S. And this isn't just a domestic crowd. People are coming from Spain, France, Germany, Australia and India, Ford said.

https://freep-mi.newsmemory.com?publ...048395_1348616

In the past, the 1st week of the show was the media week, which would be this week. Haven't heard much of anything coming out of the show thus far.

They mayor toured the show yesterday and Chrysler announced a new 300C. Media day is today, which will include a visit from President Biden and the new Mustang announcement. The charity preview is Friday.

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Originally Posted by EGrant

They mayor toured the show yesterday and Chrysler announced a new 300C. Media day is today, which will include a visit from President Biden and the new Mustang announcement. The charity preview is Friday.

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I just realized the show starts today. In the past it was a full 2 weeks, starting on the Sunday evening. Companies aren't using auto shows to introduce new vehicles as in the past. At least Ford saved the Mustang for the show.

Did anyone notice the if College for Creative Studies had a display or installation set up?

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Originally Posted by Zacha341

Did anyone notice the if College for Creative Studies had an display or installation set up?

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https://www.collegeforcreativestudie...orizon-worlds/

I like the new Mustang I think. From the photos it looks a bit Camaro ish though. I haven’t seen it in person, but I’m sure Ford did a good job.

I went to Hart Plaza today and didn't see any mustangs there. Where did they move all of those mustangs to

Are Mercedes, BMW and Audi exhibiting this year? I see spots for them on the floor map layout, but then I heard they’re not……

2024 is the last gas mustang.

Interesting history,64.5 to 73 then the mustang community revolted because the mustang became a bloated full size car that lost its identity,as the lady stockholder at the meeting told Ford,so then came the mustang 2 and ford sought the approval of the lady before releasing it.

Great at the time because of the gas shortages and it came with a 4 cylinder,which the rest of the mustang community became tired of because it was powerless,then comes Charlie’s Angels and the Mustang 2 cobra which sent sales skyrocketing,they got back on trac with the Fox body.

Its been a consistent roller coaster ride of a platform.

Ford debuts Mustang at Detroit outdoor party

Ford Motor Co. unveiled its new seventh-generation Mustang at a big outdoor event along the Detroit River attended by hundreds of Mustang enthusiasts and Ford employees - Sept. 15AP video: Mike Householder

It’s only 480 hp

Camaro 650hp

The all electric 2024 Charger will be 885 hp 0 to 60 in 2 seconds, wow

I like the look of the red color convertible one,same color as my F250,if I still have it in 2024 I might have to buy my truck a girlfriend but I agree it does look kinda like the Camaro.

Here is the video of the debut

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d8YGKZPz4eE

Something about a Brit hawking an American icon of a car …..

The Coyote 5.0 litre V8 that powers the next generation Mustang is being made at Ford Essex Engine Plant over here in Windsor. That is good news for local auto workers.

Is this the "stampede" of Mustangs I saw closing down east I-94 with a massive police escort during the evening rush hour last Wednesday?

The 2022 North American International Auto Show Was a Depressing Ghost Town

The Detroit auto show, once the pinnacle of U.S. automaker events prior to the pandemic, was sparse and nearly empty.

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Originally Posted by MikeM

The 2022 North American International Auto Show Was a Depressing Ghost Town

The Detroit auto show, once the pinnacle of U.S. automaker events prior to the pandemic, was sparse and nearly empty.

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Where was this outdoor extravaganza? I walked down Woodward after the game. There was nothing around CMart. When you get to Hart Plaza you line up and go through security so you can see a couple of monster trucks, t-shirt shops and food trucks. The only reason was to keep people from bringing food or drink into the area. Also, access to the riverfront is denied. I heard several people complaining. The security guard said you have to walk back to the convention center or the Ren Cen to get to the riverwalk. Nice message for out of town visitors.

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Originally Posted by 401don

Where was this outdoor extravaganza? I walked down Woodward after the game. There was nothing around CMart. When you get to Hart Plaza you line up and go through security so you can see a couple of monster trucks, t-shirt shops and food trucks. The only reason was to keep people from bringing food or drink into the area. Also, access to the riverfront is denied. I heard several people complaining. The security guard said you have to walk back to the convention center or the Ren Cen to get to the riverwalk. Nice message for out of town visitors.

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Yeah, I went yesterday and let's be real, the whole thing was depressing.

Activating downtown? All that was "activated" was Hart Plaza, and when we went wandering through in afternoon it was just some food trucks, static Monster trucks, and a band with like 12 people watching. Nothing of interest.

The convention floor isn't even worth visiting to be honest.

Will say the dinosaur thing was actually kind of amusing...but, if you leave the auto show thinking a goofy dinosaur thing was the highlight, that says something about the quality of the show...

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Originally Posted by stinkytofu

Yeah, I went yesterday and let's be real, the whole thing was depressing.

Activating downtown? All that was "activated" was Hart Plaza, and when we went wandering through in afternoon it was just some food trucks, static Monster trucks, and a band with like 12 people watching. Nothing of interest.

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As you entered Hart Plaza, instead of someone to greet visitors with a smile and a welcome the security person just kept repeatedly hollering "no food, no drinks, no weapons". That sends a nice message as well.

I spoke to one guy who was there all day last Wednesday, when Biden was there. He used the word lame, said it wasn’t anywhere near the show it used to be. Actually, it was going down hill for a few years before the pandemic hit.

So who is their target audience? Industry insiders or tourists?

From the comments here and elsewhere,it does not appear to be locals,tourism across the board after Labor Day sucks everywhere,September is right after school starts so no let’s take a weeks vacation with the kids.

There is really no industry insiders anymore with the advent of the internet,pictures of secret projects are on the internet way before they are released.

You do not really see the futuristic concept cars like in the past or like they put a lot of heart into putting on a show.

It’s like,we have this space,let’s throw some cars in there and go from there,did anybody really enjoy it and what about it would make you return next year?

The Motor City Crawl that occurred last year was more excited than this auto show. Hart Plaza is under utilized only having monster trucks and a few dodge hellcats and chargers. The Auto show space usage remind me of the Autorama but with fewer cars.No carpeting and bareboned. Were the owners of Hart Plaza charging too much for the NAIAS to use its space?

Definitely better in January when it's basically the only game in town.

Also, I think auto shows as they currently exist are very antiquated and need to evolve. That said, I'm not sure how to change them to make them more relevant. Maybe some more electric stuff? No idea. But they definitely need to evolve somehow.

I tried finding out what the visitor numbers are for the auto show there but I go to the Kissimmee Mercum classic car auction,which also does not advertise participation numbers but it remains packed every day with thousands attending and lots to do other then bidding,they run 400-500 cars through in a week long event.

As far as a revenue generator for the city,a well advertised and held at the right time,a classic car auction, in the motor city,might be a better route.

They have a 300,000 - 400,000 online viewers during the auction internationally,you could get a lot of visit Detroit plugs in there.

Why wasn't it kept in June as originally planned before the pandemic hit? It was moved from January to June starting in 2020. When was it switched to September and why?

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Originally Posted by MikeM

The 2022 North American International Auto Show Was a Depressing Ghost Town

The Detroit auto show, once the pinnacle of U.S. automaker events prior to the pandemic, was sparse and nearly empty.

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I noticed in a TV news aerial shot of Convention Hall that there were very few cars parked on the roof, just some bunched up to the front by the elevator entrances. Hopefully they will fare better on the final weekend.

It's ironic that the conv. ctr was renovated primarily for the auto show and a few years later the show is irrelevant. The big money the show brought to the city was primarily from the 4-5,000 journalists who filled the hotels. Since auto companies have for some reason decided to introduce the vehicles on-line at random times throughout the year, the auto shows are not relevant. Combine that with the decline in budgets for media of all types and only the hard core auto publications will send people to the show. The fact that the foreign/exotic brands aren't showing up makes matters worse because they're the ones still producing interesting cars that attract hardcore enthusiasts vs. all the lookalike suv's mainstream automakers offer. The show will still exist, but in its prior form, just a local event to sell product, like in other cities. The plan to activate the show with outdoor attractions clearly didn't have much effort behind it.

I know scheduling the show during football season most definitely affected attendance. Also, kids today have no interest in cars or auto shows so they weren't pushing their parents to go. Go figure.