DETROIT — Organizers of the North American International Auto Show are hitting the brakes on the 2024 show and throwing plans in reverse so to speak. After two years of running the show in September, officials have confirmed the show will return to a January timeframe starting with the 2025 NAIAS, according to the Associated Press.

“In a constantly changing global automotive landscape, this update reflects our efforts to continue to reimagine the Detroit auto show with keeping an eye on what matters most – getting people excited about cars,” said Rod Alberts, executive director of the NAIAS in a statement.

The 2025 show will run from Jan. 10 – 20 according to organizers.

Related story: See photos from media day at the 2023 Detroit Auto Show

After taking place in January for many years, the event shifted to the summer months as part of an effort to attract more people to the show and to do more outdoor events surrounding the showcase. The first summer show was scheduled for June 2020, however the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in both the 2020 and 2021 shows being cancelled.

The show returned in September 2022, but with far fewer planned events than what were scheduled for the 2020 show.

By moving the show back to January, officials hope attendance improves and more automakers will once again debut new cars at the show. While official attendance figures were not released for the 2022 and 2023 shows, the AP reports previous January events drew around 800,000 attendees. For comparison, officials previously stated they would be happy with 500,000 attendees for the 2022 show.

Auto shows in general are struggling to bring in guests and to attract automakers to attend. Auto companies are now electing to hold their own private virtual events to debut new vehicles. Those private reveals are typically less expensive and don’t have to compete with other companies who are also debuting new vehicles at the same time.