The Detroit Auto Show is starting over again.
After a few years with warmer dates, the show has returned to frosty January. The show’s media days are scheduled for a single day on Friday, Jan. 10. The full show will extend to Jan. 20.
The Detroit show’s glory years for decades occurred in January. At its peak, the show attracted automakers beginning in the early 1990s from across the globe to the Motor City.
“It became the world’s stage,” said Ray Day, a former Ford Motor Co. executive who is now Stagwell vice chair and Allison Worldwide executive chair. “You had to be a part of it.”
Over time, the Detroit show had more competition from the Consumer Electronics Show (now known as CES) held in early January. CES emerged as the primary way of introducing automotive technology, something that used to be part of the Detroit show.
What’s more, some luxury brands opted to take a pass on the Detroit event. Makers of luxury models decided to emphasize auto shows on the East and West coasts.
Automakers also developed other means to attract buyers. “From a press strategy, there was a change to more standalone events,” Day said.
Starting in 2020, Detroit show organizers decided to do a more consumer-friendly event in September with warmer weather. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted those plans. Even in the Detroit area, the Battery Show, which played up the development of electronic vehicles, has become a big event in the fall in Detroit.
Traditionally, auto shows were a way for automakers to highlight what offerings were on the way, rather than what was available for sale now. New models would go on sale months after they were displayed at an auto show. That’s a contrast from other industrial trade shows such as the Paris Air Show and the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago, which are more business-to-business affairs where products are sold during the event.
In the 1990s, Chrysler Corp. (now part of Stellantis) drew attention at the Detroit show through a series of stunts. They included a Mission: Impossible skit where Chrysler hired Peter Graves, star of the original television series. Chrysler spurred its competitors to step up their presentations.
“We went into more of a theatrical press conference,” said Steve Harris, a retired Chrysler and General Motors Co. executive.
The Detroit show reflects how the auto industry has changed, said David Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
“What we have seen is a global expansion in the industry,” Cole said. “The new world is one where Chinese (automakers) have raised their head. The fabric of the industry is much less certain. The uncertainty toward the future is crazy.”