The Detroit Auto Show roars into Huntington Place this week for media previews and other events before opening to the public this weekend.

Organizers say this year’s car extravaganza differs from the others in its more-than-a-century history.

Executive Director Sam Klemet says the auto show is filled with the kinds of hands-on activities customers simply cannot duplicate using the internet.

The following interview has been edited for clarity.

Sam Klemet: It’s something for everyone. We’ve talked about the various iterations of what the show has been over the last number of years. And I think it was originally considered more of a media show and then it’s been identified as a consumer show. And I’m really looking at it now as more of a content show.

We’re still going to have some special reveals from some of our OEM partners and some other specialty vehicles. We’re going to have some great news conferences as part of our Mobility Global Forum with newsmakers from all over the world. Of course, we have the charity preview where we’ll raise millions of dollars for local children’s charities. And then we open to the public.

It’s a chance for everyone to come under one roof and see kind of what the auto industry is about, where it’s going, and also what the city of Detroit is about.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: You have a section this year that deals with off-road vehicles and experiences connected with them. What is that all about?

SK: It’s called our Michigan Overland Adventure. Obviously in the state of Michigan there’s a great culture, particularly in the northern part of the state, where people want to do off-roading. There’s a lot of camping. There’s a lot of trails. And we want to tap into that heritage and show off the modern vehicles that really are tapping into that type of lifestyle.

The Michigan Overland adventure has all kinds of support from OEMs like Ford, General Motors and Toyota, among others. We also have a group called the AEV, which has these incredible modified vehicles that go off-road. It’s a really exciting space. It’ll be a cool setup in terms of the display. It really showcases that outdoor culture.

QK: Back in the day people would come to the auto show, look at the vehicles and see if maybe there was one they wanted to buy. Is there more of a thrust now to give people these “experiences” as opposed to them just looking and going, “Man, that’s a cool car?”

SK: Absolutely. I think that’s how people’s relationships with cars are now. They want to see every intricacy of it. They want to see the technology and the dashboard. They want to get under the hood, they wanna see the tires, they wanna see every bit of the vehicle. And our show offers them that access. Not only to see the ones that are being displayed on the floor, but to get into them on our test tracks and feel what they’re like to a degree. The show is very much more hands-on than think what it’s traditionally been, a lot more activations and engagement.

QK: You yourself were a bit hands-on recently, riding along with a caravan of custom cars coming to the Detroit Auto Show from California.

SK: This is the centennial of Route 66 and we kicked off the auto show in Santa Monica. We have nine historic vehicles, Detroit-based vehicles, that made the drive all the way along Route 66. They’re ending the trip in Detroit, which isn’t a part of Route 66. But we’re the Motor City and we’ve got a great partnership with the group that’s doing the drive, America’s Automotive Trust.

Those vehicles that are coming across country will be on display in our concourse at the auto show. We’ll have videos from the entire ride. If you follow us on social media, you can see the day-to-day recaps of what that experience has been like.

And I think that’s been great because it connects our auto show across the country. And along the way, we’re telling these incredible stories of people’s relationships with vehicles, their relationship with driving and how it all connects back to Detroit. It’s been an exciting way to kick off the auto show this year.

QK: It’s no secret that the automotive industry has faced some uncertainty over the past year with President Trump’s use of tariffs and rolling back some regulations. Some consumers used to say that they thought of the auto show as kind of a one-stop gigantic dealer showroom. They would actually buy vehicles after they saw them there. In this current climate, do you see those kinds of sales continuing now at the auto show? Or is there a different purpose for such an event?

SK: I think this is a place first and foremost where people can come and see the cars that are on the market and see what’s coming in 2026 and beyond. Having an event like our Mobility Global Forum is a perfect stage to get a pulse on the industry, where people from all over the world come and talk about the direction automakers are going. And consumers get to interact with these vehicles, whether they’re in the market to buy one or they just want to see how the technology is evolving. I think that’s what an auto show is all about.

But as we evolve, we also want to be a place where people can come down even if they’re not in a market for a car, to learn about the vehicles and also have some fun. That’s why we added so much more entertainment, so much more arts and culture to the show, just kind of on the periphery of what we have on the main floor with our vehicles.

One of the new elements we have this year is our Visit Detroit interactive experience. That’s intended to engage young people with the auto industry. We’ve had people like Ford’s CEO talk about the need to have more auto technicians across the country. And we see this as an opportunity to engage young people in the science, technology, engineering, and math skills that are needed for those careers. So we serve a multipurpose, not only to showcase vehicles, but hopefully to uplift the industry at large through workforce development and other things.

QK: Some people I’ve spoken with say the auto show sounds nice, but they can look up all the details about the vehicles on the internet. So, they say, why even have an auto show? What’s your response to that?

SK: You can get all the information in the world online, there’s no doubt about that. But to actually interact and see the vehicles in person, I think, really does change a perspective. So I think the more that people can engage with these vehicles, the better. And actually I would encourage people to do some research about them before they come down to the auto show. It’ll give them a fuller picture and then they can most closely identify the vehicles that they want to key-in on when they get there. So I think that you can blend all of those things.

I know there’s a big push for nostalgia nowadays. But I would tell people that the 2026 auto show is not a show like we’ve had before. It’ll be very unique, a very different positive engagement experience that we haven’t had in a number of years. I think it’ll be a show that really resets the tone of what a Detroit Auto Show is all about.

We’ve paid attention to every single detail. From the minute people walk into the concourse to the minute they get to the back of the hall, everything is much more immersive. We have more brands on the floor. We have more vehicles. We have more opportunities for people to engage with content. I just think it’s bigger. It’s more robust. There’s more to do. There’s more to see. And there’s more information to be gathered.

The non-profit gun violence prevention group Brady United estimates about 4.6 million children live in homes with unlocked and loaded firearms.

And guns are now the leading cause of death among children.

Michigan recently took steps to help stop injuries from firearms by enacting a law requiring owners to keep guns safely stored and secured.

But the president of Brady United, Kris Brown, says gun owners must use extra caution during the holidays when large numbers of family members often gather together.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Kris Brown, Brady United: If you look at all of the different causes of gun violence in this country, unintentional shootings in a home kill or injure eight kids a day. About 76% of school shooters get their gun from a home where it’s not safely stored. And two-thirds of gun deaths are from suicide. The hugest risk factor for suicide in the home is the presence of a loaded and unsecured firearm.

Taken together, those statistics show us that preventing “family fire,” the unintentional injury or death of a loved one with an unsecured fire in a home, has to be a top priority if we’re really going to lessen the rate of gun violence in this country in a material way. It starts in everyone’s home and it starts with safe storage.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: In Michigan, there was a tragic school shooting a few years ago at Oxford High School. It was one of the many that have happened across the country, sadly. A law was passed around the time of the Oxford shooting mandating safe storage of firearms. And in that case they also held the parents liable for the gun crimes committed by their son because they said that it wasn’t stored safely. From what your group has seen, are those kinds of laws widespread across the country? And do they seem to have any effect on limiting unintended shootings?

KB: They’re not widespread yet. There are a number of states that, after the Oxford shooting and others like it that have, unfortunately, occurred in states like Georgia, has created more of a groundswell to seek support for those kinds of laws. Child access prevention laws and similar laws of that ilk.

Brady United has mixed feelings about it. We believe the critical thing is to prevent these kinds of shootings from happening in the first place. Throwing parents in jail after the fact because they’ve been grossly negligent, that’s what the law we do believe should require. But it doesn’t bring back the innocent victims. It doesn’t stop the harm from happening in the first place.

That’s why we think child access prevention laws that ensure if you choose to have a firearm in the home it is safely stored are important compliments to public safety laws. They should be adopted across the country.

QK: In your view, does it seem that “threatening” parents, for lack of a better word, actually makes an impact? Or is it something where they just need to have this top of mind to begin with? There’s been shootings where people had a gun stuck in a shoe box that they seemed to think was fine because it stored away. And still a kid was able to get to it.

KB: I think there needs to be a complement of effort, sort of in the same way that getting a ticket when you’re speeding is a way to remind you that you shouldn’t have a lead foot. It compliments education in driver’s ed about why speeding is potentially very dangerous. The same sort of approach should apply here. This isn’t a unique area of human experience, though it’s a uniquely deadly area of human experience.

We at Brady have done a lot on our website so that families can find absolutely crystal clear guidance on safe storage options. And even how to talk to family members when you’re at the dining table over the holidays about the kinds of things that they can be doing, if they choose to have firearms in the home, to protect those who live there and those who visit the home.

We at Brady believe that it’s on each of us to have these conversations and to normalize something that’s as old as our nation, older than the Second Amendment, which is safe storage of firearms. Back in the colonial times it was mandated and enforced in terms of muskets. Why should it be different today, when eight kids a day are killed or injured by guns that those parents and most gun owners brought in with the idea that they should protect their families? And unless they’re safely stored, it’s tragic that that is exactly the opposite of what’s happening.

QK: I’ve heard some firearm owners and people that say they’re fighting for the Second Amendment who mention some of the recent mass shootings, the tragedy in Australia, for example. They’ll say that country had some of the toughest gun laws around and still that tragedy occurred. They argue restrictions on firearms really don’t make any huge difference, whether it’s children in the home or people out and about. What is your reaction to those kinds of comments?

KB: There was a mass shooting in Australia at Port Arthur. Immediately following that, I think it was a matter of days or weeks, not months, Australia banned various assault style weapons. And they greatly strengthened the regulation of the sale and ownership of firearms in their country. There was a significant reduction in mass shootings.

If you look at U.S. history, we have a distinguishing feature. Here guns are the number one killer of our kids. We experience 26 times the gun violence of every other industrialized country. The five states with the strongest gun laws in this country have a 70% or more reduced experience of gun death and injury compared to the states with the five weakest laws.

Will they prevent every gun death and injury? No, just like speeding limits didn’t stop every automobile fatality. But they reduced them a lot. This is in our hands. This is in the hands of gun owners across this country. That means guns locked, unloaded, and stored separately from ammunition. Doesn’t need a vote at the ballot box. It doesn’t need a better enforcement agency. It needs an individual taking an action that will ensure that a firearm is not used unintentionally to harm someone in their home.

Holiday decorators in Michigan are facing a Grinch stealing part of the Christmas tree business.

The American Christmas Tree Association says most U.S. families use artificial trees that are imported and subject to heavy tariffs.

That could help Michigan real tree growers who provide millions of trees nationwide annually.

But the founder and CEO of artificial tree company Balsam Hill, Mac Harman, says tariffs are forcing price hikes for much of the season’s holiday décor.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Mac Harman: For artificial trees, pre-lit trees, all of those are made in Southeast Asia. 87 % of artificial trees imported to the U.S. last year came from China. It’s going to be lower this year because we and many others have diversified our supply chains to other parts of Southeast Asia. But there’s a tremendous amount of labor that goes into a pre-lit artificial tree.

Most of the reasons that people choose artificial trees are around convenience and longevity. What’s really convenient is you don’t have to spend an hour or more stringing the lights on the tree. And that’s a job that Americans don’t like doing when they set up their farm-grown trees.

And it’s a job that Americans didn’t want to do in factories, which is why pre-lit artificial trees were never made in the United States. That’s why we see them coming in from overseas.

From a farm-grown tree standpoint this year, maybe they have some increased costs affecting something they use on the farm. The price of the tree may not change as much.

But you still need the lights and the tree stand. And those are generally imported as well. Certainly the lights are all imported. And so those costs are up even more because, unfortunately, Christmas lights are tariffed even higher than pre-lit Christmas trees.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: When you were looking at what was going on with tariffs as you were plotting your sales for the holidays this year, how difficult was it? Tariffs would go up, they’d go down again. Is it possible, even with diversifying supply chains, that there could be a shortage of trees?

MH: This year has been the most difficult running a business in my 25 years being a CEO, more difficult than COVID. And it is exactly because of trying to manage the tariffs. Literally the day after the presidential election, we started shipping as many products in as we could because it was talked about that there was going to be a so-called Day One tariff on Inauguration Day. So we and most major retailers shipped-in a lot. Then, on Day One, there wasn’t any tariffs.

There was an announcement that there would be a change on April 2nd. So we all scrambled and manufactured as many goods as we could and shipped them in before April 2nd. Everyone kind of independently made a decision to cut back around 15%-20%. So across the industry about 15% fewer trees were imported this year. We don’t have official data yet because the data was shut down during the government shutdown and they haven’t caught up. But we also think demand is going to be a little bit slower because the prices have gone up.

I think what we’re going to see is that there won’t be as many trees available at clearance. There are consumers who say, “Hey, an artificial tree lasts me 10 years. I can get by with the one I have this year. I’m going to wait ‘till after Christmas and buy one next year.” I don’t think we’re going to see as many of those deals this year. And we’re starting to see across the major retailers, as well as Balsam Hill, that we’re running out of stock on the most popular models because there just aren’t as many to go around this year.

QK: Let me play devil’s advocate. President Trump has long argued that the reason he wants to use tariffs is because he wants to have products made in the U.S. Obviously I’m paraphrasing, but if you’re making something and you’re depending on imports, well, you should be making it in the U.S. instead. So there might be a little bit of short-term pain, but suck it up and start building your stuff in the U.S. What’s your reaction to that argument?

MH: I think it’s fantastic that the president wants to bring strategic good manufacturing back to the U.S. I’d love it if my cell phone, telecommunications equipment, ships, things that we need for our defenses could be made in the U.S. What I don’t think needs to be made in the U.S. are non-strategic goods. And certainly Christmas trees are a non-strategic good, meaning that they don’t have any national security interest.

And they’ve actually never been made in the US. So it’s not even a matter of bringing it back. When the idea for the pre-lit artificial tree came about, the workers in the factories that made unlit artificial trees said they literally did not want to get paid to put lights on a tree. They said they were going to go find another job. And the entire industry moved in the early 1990s over to Thailand at the time.

We are in discussions with the Trump administration in D.C. Pretty much every official I’ve talked to, and I’ve had the privilege to talk to many, agrees with that. We’re hoping that, once things settle down with the U.S. Supreme Court case over IEEPA authority for tariffs, we will see more targeted tariffs. Just like we’ve seen these carve-outs for things that don’t grow here, like bananas and coffee and chocolate, I think we’re going to start to see that for some other non-strategic industries. So I’m hoping that we will see some tariff relief for the Christmas industry in the coming months.

QK: If you did want to try to start making them in the U.S. in some fashion, would that even be possible?

MH: We looked at that back during the first Trump administration. The only way we could manufacture artificial Christmas trees, pre-lit artificial trees in the United States would be if we could invent ways that reduce the labor costs. And we got to a point where a tree that we sell today for $800 would need to sell for about $3,000, back when we looked at this six or seven years ago. And that just isn’t feasible. We have taken another look at it now and not enough things have changed to make any difference in that.

I’ve spent a lot of this year in Washington, D.C., talking with the administration as well as Congress about this holiday decor issue. What we’re hoping for and what we think is going to happen is that President Trump’s going to do something like he did back in 2019, when he was putting the 301 tariffs on China in place. He delayed them until after Christmas to help Christmas retail. That’s public, he spoke about it. At the same time, many Christmas decorations were placed on list 4B, which was tariffed at 0%. So pre-lit Christmas trees have not been tariffed above 0% until this year.

I do think we are going to see some kind of relief from the administration. Going into the mid-term elections next year, you want consumers to be really happy. If everyone goes into Christmas and the conversation around the dinner table is about how expensive the mashed potatoes and the roast beef are, or whatever you’re eating, that’s not going to be a super Merry Christmas from at least an economic standpoint. For us, even though we’ve already imported all the goods we’re going to sell this year, if we know relief is coming next year, there are ways we can cut costs even more. We could potentially lower prices as we’re selling things for the rest of this season.

Right now we’re staring at even higher tariffs next year because the tariffs would be in place for the whole year. Whereas this year they’ve been in place only part of the year. And we brought a lot of our inventory in before those tariffs went into place.