The North American International Auto Show — rebranded last summer as the Detroit Auto Show — has long been a harbinger of innovation within the auto industry, drawing as many as 800,000 visitors to the city in the past.
But attendance at the Detroit show — as well as other large-scale auto shows around the world — have been in decline in recent years, highlighting the changing dynamics automakers are facing in a post-COVID, largely digital-centric world.
WDET reporter Alex McLenon and Automotive News Executive Editor Jamie Butters joined The Metro on Tuesday to discuss some of the reasons behind this decline in attendance and the changes they have seen over the years.
“I think when you think of the auto show, you think of the big different setups, the different flooring, different levels of cars, the turntables, the lights and stuff,” McLenon said. “That is noticeably less than it was like 15 years ago. But that shouldn’t really be news to anybody at this point. It’s kind of been like that for a while.”
Butters said a big part of the auto show has always been selling cars.
“At the auto show, they’re trying to give people experiences, right? If it’s not about the news, it’s about the consumers,” he said.
Use the media player above to hear the full conversation, and other stories from “The Metro.”
More stories from The Metro on Jan. 14, 2024:
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Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.
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Those attending the show can park at a city parking facility, private garage/lot or street parking meter close to a People Mover station and ride for free to the Huntington Place station.
The People Mover will also be operating earlier on the weekends during the Detroit Auto Show, from 6:30 a.m. to midnight Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to midnight Saturday and Sunday.
Individuals can also park anywhere along the Woodward Corridor between New Center and downtown and ride the QLine for free and get dropped off two blocks from Huntington Place.
The city is also restricting traffic in certain areas around the auto show, including on Washington Boulevard, Atwater, Shelby, Bates, Congress, Fort, Griswold, Cass and westbound Jefferson.
For more information about traffic and transportation during the Detroit Auto Show, visit the city of Detroit’s website.
After a stellar performance against the Minnesota Vikings for the final game of the regular season, the Detroit Lions are 15-2, No. 1 in the division, No. 1 in the NFC conference and No. 1 in the hearts of passionate Detroit Lions fans.
Grammy nominated and Soul Train Award winner Chanté Moore is gracing the stage of Sound Board at MotorCity Casino Hotel on Friday, Jan. 17.
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The Detroit Auto Show kicks off its 10-day run on Saturday, but it’s not the same car showcase many past visitors might remember.
No longer is it known as the North American International Auto Show. Now it’s simply the Detroit Auto Show. Yet the event’s co-executive director, Sam Klemet, says the auto show does retain many of its signature elements.
In an interview with WDET, he said that includes a return to its original January timeframe after several years.
Listen: What to expect from the 2025 Detroit Auto Show
The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Sam Klemet: January is a pretty natural fit for the Detroit Auto Show. This is a time of year right after the holiday, right after the New Year, which traditionally is slower for businesses in downtown Detroit, for the restaurants and the hotels. It’s a time of year when they need that injection of something large, economically. And our show brings international media from more than 15 different countries and hundreds of thousands of people to downtown. It’s a chance for us to be a good steward of the community and inject some life right at the start of the new year, set some momentum for the city moving forward. So it felt like the right time to come back and hopefully we can do this every year.
Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: It’s a new day for auto shows in general. So much stuff is shown on social media now. How do you make the Detroit Auto Show stand out?
SK: How people engage with unveils and getting information about cars has absolutely changed over the last number of years. You can get all the specs and information about vehicles, you can see all the pictures online. But there’s still something truly unique about seeing them in-person and, more importantly for us, experiencing these vehicles. Actually getting in them, riding in them, seeing the technology that’s on the dashboard and around the entirety of the vehicle. As we put this show together, we did it intentional to make sure that when consumers come down here, they’re going to be able to engage with these vehicles. The technology in cars and SUVs and trucks is changing rapidly. And for the consumer, it might feel overwhelming. So to be able to see all these various brands under one roof and get a better understanding of what’s out there on the market and how it’s moving is, I think, a real special opportunity. So we’re putting consumers first and foremost. And we think that this is a chance for them to actually get in a vehicle and engage with them in a truly unique way.
QK: It sounds like quite a hands-on experience. No more of the glitzy, showy herds of cattle running through to help reveal new models. None of that anymore?
SK: I don’t think that’s true. I think there’s still tons of glitz and a lot of glamor. You see that at our charity preview. That’s a huge event for us not only to kick off the show, but also to support six local charities. Now, you may not see the displays and the manufacturers like in years past, where you have elevators as part of their displays. But what they have is still outstanding. You’ll see screens everywhere, you’ll see lights everywhere, you’ll see activations everywhere. Of course, there’s going to be kind of the nostalgia of, ‘oh, this isn’t what it once was.’ But the world is changing in a lot of ways. And how we consume content, how we engage with conventions and shows, has changed a little bit. I still think there’s a lot of glitz, a lot of glamor, a lot of excitement. It’s just in a new way where technology is first and foremost and getting involved with that technology as a consumer is first and foremost.
The Ford display at a previous Detroit Auto Show event.
QK: You mentioned some of the experiences people can have. Are there some activities you’re particularly proud of, things that you think people really should be looking forward to if they go to the show?
SK: There’s a number of them. We have four ride and drive test tracks and more than 40 different vehicles where people can actually get inside of them and ride them. So you don’t have to go to individual dealerships over the course of a number of weeks to see that amount of vehicles. You can do it all in one spot. We also have a number of new partners, one of them being the Detroit Grand Prix. They’ll have a lot of activations and that’s another great institution here in Detroit. To have a partnership with them to move each other forward as organizations here in Detroit is great. We have the Michigan Science Center. We’re the Motor City, so we’re hoping to drive the conversations forward about what’s to come in the automotive industry. A big part of that is how do you get a new workforce involved. So by bringing the Michigan Science Center, we get young people involved with STEM activities, where hopefully we can ignite a passion for them to get involved with engineering or design and be a part of our automotive future. You’ll see simulators everywhere. We’ll have more than 500 different vehicles on the show floor around Huntington Place. Even if you just want something a little more simple and just want to walk around and see really cool cars, we have that as well. We have 700,000-plus square feet of showroom here at Huntington Place and every corner of it is packed.
QK: One of the big attractions in the past for consumers was the chance to go through all that space and see all kinds of different vehicles under one roof. Then, maybe, they could test one out or actually purchase it. Is that still a thing, can they still buy the vehicles right at the Auto Show?
SK: Not at the show. But this is a place where you can get all the information, so when you go home, you know exactly what you’re looking for. You can’t actually purchase the vehicles on the show floor. But given the wide range of models, with more than 34 brands and about 500 cars, you’ll have a pretty good understanding of what you’re looking for and what fits best for you. So it’s a good tool for you, after you leave the show, to go to your local dealer and buy the car that stands out to you. I think that this show is evolving. And I think that’s really exciting because we’re bringing in all kinds of new partners. We’re really diving into the spirit of Detroit and Detroit’s automotive history and Detroit’s renaissance that we’ve seen over the last number of years.
This is a very important show for the city economically, with hundreds of millions of dollars of economic impact. We’re building on the momentum that started over the last number of years and hit its apex with the NFL Draft last April. To start the beginning of this year with bringing people together, connecting around the industry that is the foundation of the city is exceptional. And we’re also going to do things like coat drives for Detroit Public School kids to help them feel comfortable when they’re in the classroom. We’re going to have conversations around Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. We have some special surprises with the Detroit Lions. So there’s going to be something for everyone. It’s really a good time for the city to come together, at a time when I think we’re all really proud of what’s happening here in Detroit.
The 2025 Detroit Auto Show will take place Jan. 10-20 at Huntington Place, Detroit. For more information, visit detroitautoshow.com.
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WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
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