An old boss of mine often explained to me “The internet isn’t real life” anytime I’d get all in a tizzy about some dumb trend on Twitter or Instagram. I know that’s hard to make sense of, because, after all, this is an online outlet that often writes about stuff that happens, online. But my boss was right — sometimes things that seem like the status quo on the internet actually don’t reflect how people feel in real life. Like, we all thought Ford was dumb for killing small cars, but it turns out that it may have been the best thing that the brand has ever done. The Cadillac CT4 and CT5 Blackwing are critically acclaimed, but irrelevant since so few people buy sedans anymore. Or, we’ve been saying that auto shows have been dying for years, and COVID-19—which canceled most of them and reset how the industry thinks about announcing some news at such events—was just the nail in the coffin.
After a visit to my local regional auto show, I’d argue that the auto show may be more important now than before. It’s important for consumers, it’s important for local dealers, and it’s important for kids, too.
The critique that the “auto show is dying” isn’t an opinion that came from thin air. In recent years, auto show attendance is down. Some automakers have decided to eschew the showroom floor, opting to instead spend the money on private reveals with a hand-picked audience — reveals that may not be at same time or location as the main auto show.
Hell, COVID only accelerated the idea that in-person reveals aren’t worth automakers’ time, with every other new car reveal being a digital release chock full of NFT, VR, or whatever three-letter tech trendy acronym an OEM wants to stuff in there to make the brand look more tech-forward than it is.
After all, if you’re Ford or whoever, do you really want to share the spotlight with a direct competitor? Let’s say you drop some news at an auto show, but a rival has something bigger — you have a new midsize crossover, they have a new Corvette — you’re only in the news for a second. You could do that, or unveil things on your own time and not have to share media-space with anyone.
For the working journalists, sure. Maybe the era of a showroom floor full of rabid writers and reporters seeking out details and then scribing them up on a laptop is probably dead. We probably won’t ever get a Jeep driving into Cobo Hall again, or some cringe dancers in front of a Chevy Volt; that part of Auto Show theater is likely dead.
For me, it’s a bit sad. I finally broke into this damn industry, and all of the drama and fanfare that I read about in old car magazines won’t ever be back.
But who cares? We journalists love to write about a big spectacle, but most consumers don’t care all that much. When I visited the Columbus International Auto Show (not sure what’s so international about it, but okay), I saw something contrary to what I had read on the internet. The Auto Show was not dead, actually.
Most regional auto shows are usually an amalgamation of corporate-supported efforts, married with dealer-supported stalls, or a mishmash of the two. For example, Subaru, Toyota, Lexus, Volkswagen, Stellantis, Chevrolet, and Ford all had official-looking kiosks, complete with products and representatives from the home office. Ford, Stellantis, Chevrolet, and Lexus all had new models on display that hadn’t reached dealers yet.
One of the joys of an auto show is allowing the average, everyday person — not just the journalists — getting hands-on experience with new models. Heck, even seeing a car in person is dramatically different than looking at photos. The cars that I or other online folks think people would want may not track with what people are actually interested in. For example, the new Dodge Hornet and Chevy Trax had big crowds of attendees. Think about it: a regional auto show is a perfect way to see as many competitors in the metal, without a pesky salesman pressuring you to drive away that day with a new car.
Sure, maybe the local auto show wasn’t all that interesting to me, a working journalist, but I noticed how much fun folks were having. I remember the very first time I went to an auto show, I was nine years old (actually six, according to the generous gate agent, since kids six and under get in free). My mom and dad drove big GM and Ford vans, and I didn’t know anyone who drove anything that wasn’t a GM Malaise Era piece of shit; to me, a Honda Civic was exotic.
When I went to the auto show, that was the first time I had seen all these cars that I played with in video games, or ogled while reading Motor Trend in the grocery store checkout line, in person. I’m sure I gave the Nissan PR person fielding audience questions about the then-new 350Z grief, but I also credit that experience to shaping the little car nut in me back then.
And, I saw a lot of that on the auto show floor. I saw the faces of little kids lighting up when they see a Lamborghini or being amazed at the number of touch screens in the Ford Mustang Mach-E. Experiences like that, you can’t replicate with an online picture or video; it’s got to be seen and felt in person. I think that there’s value in that.
Anyway, the internet isn’t real life. The auto show is far from dead, it just might not be all that relevant to the car-obsessed journalist. For anyone else who’s actually in the new car market, it may be one of the best things you can do.
Photos: Author
I’ve gone to the Toronto Auto Show for years, but this was their first year back since COVID and I chose to stay home (still wary of catching COVID, many models I was interested in were not on display). Evidentially, the rest of central Ontario didn’t because the show’s first two days were the busiest they’ve ever seen, which is surprising consider how many automakers chose not to exhibit (Ford, Honda, Acura, Mazda, BMW, VW, Audi, Mercedes, Volvo etc).
I went to the Columbus auto show several times as a little kid, too, although I haven’t been back there since the early Clinton Adminstration. So I’m tickled to see that the organizers have, for all these years, kept the decorative road markings on the aisles between the manufacturers, as can be glimpsed in the next-to-last picture.
Good times.
I doubt car shows are dying, I think they’re just on the back burner while quite a few OEM’s just don’t need to spend the marketing budget to sell cars they don’t have to sell.
I’m trying to focus on the content here, but that Lexus…yeesh.
I’m waiting with amusement to see one in person. The gaping maw I enjoyed hating now looks wrong smoothed out. I’d like to think it’s partly Stockholm Syndrome, but it more likely complacency & irony at work
Ouch.Are they trying to outdo the worst of human cosmetic surgery?
I try to go to the auto show here in Detroit. My young’uns love it (except when you can’t get into certain models) and I love it too. For instance, when the Volvo V90 launched I was sure we’d be getting one when they came off leases. Until I sat in it and realized I’d never fit comfortably. Much more fun to sit in 20 different models than driving to 10 different dealerships and fending off 10 different salesmen.
Couldn’t agree more, auto shows let you see so much, possibly even check the fit (definitely kept me from making a few mistakes), before ever even leaning one way or the other on a future purchase.
A few years back I bought a Mazda after sitting in one at the local auto show. I’ve never had any relationship to Mazda and never would have gone out of my way to visit a Mazda dealer, but I liked the interior and the seating position so much better than the other cars I’d been considering, I put it on my list to go test drive, which sealed the deal. I like the car so much I’ve talked a few more people into Mazdas since. At this year’s auto show Honda and Audi (usually two of my favorites) were completely absent. I think they’re making a mistake.
I took a former girlfriend to the Houston Auto Show a few decades ago, back when the internet was no longer nascent but before car manufacturers had any real info on their models on their websites. The girlfriend wasn’t one really interested in cars, attested by her ambivalence about driving a first gen Taurus. The crowds certainly attested to which cars were really interesting to them – the exotics had crowds of kids around them, but you could easily tell the folks who were seriously considering buying a car were stacked up around the German and Japanese manufacturer’s booths. At the time I appreciated that I could go and look at the cars that interested me without big crowds, but if only I had known then that some of those makes wouldn’t be around today (RIP Saab and that sweet 9-3 Viggen I loved and my girlfriend hated – one of many signs that relationship wouldn’t last). Looking back on it now, the cars that had the biggest crowds around them, like the Lexus RX and Honda Pilot (I think just a preproduction/concept car then), and BMW X5, are still big sellers today and certainly indicated where auto tastes were headed.
Went to the Houston show through much of the 90s, so many manufacturers, so many models. Kids absolutely loved it, had new posters on the walls every year. Moved away to a small community and boy did I miss it. It made such a difference in my car buying decisions.
My first car show was New York in 1962. My Dad and I took the bus from NE PA. I was 7, and absolutely enthralled. I used to have the catalog, but it’s gone missing.
Next was 1971 when my neighbor took me, and I got to see the Modulo, 512S, Daytona, and the debut of the 365 GTC/4. I was a Ferrari fan.
After I moved to NYC, I went every year from 1979 to 2014, after which we moved. At the last show, I sat in all the possible cars I might buy now that I needed one at our new location, and came away loving the 2015 Fit. I still have my EX, and hope to have it for a very long time.
It was terrific to be able to compare all the cars, and also to sit in cars I knew I’d never buy (Bonus points for the BMW 1 series. Terrific interior and visibility). Car shows were great.
On the flipside, after waiting three years for the auto show to return to Phoenix, it was disappointing at best. No Honda, no Subaru, no Volkswagen, no luxury brands at all (not that we’re looking at those, but they’re fun to sit in). They also shrunk the space by half, and filled a roped off portion of the space with a collection of low riders and other customized cars.
My wife and I wanted to seriously look at cars and compare them side by side, and a car show is the best place to do that without having to drive to different dealers and deal with salespeople. At 6’6″ tall, a lot of cars for me are an instant “nope” because I don’t fit. It’s a short person’s world. Should I have to take whatever time to drive to a showroom and deal with a salesperson just to finally get to sit in the car and know within 2 seconds whether or not I’ll consider it? That’s what the auto show is for. But I left
For example, guess which one is too small inside for me, the Toyota Tacoma or the Ford Maverick?
I’m on board with this, but I was disappointed with the Milwaukee show this year. It was smaller than ever, and there were none of the cars I was hoping to see/touch/sit in. Ioniq 5 & 6 for instance, were not there. A whole section was dedicated to an indoor putt-putt course. I went with the Autopians, but other than that the show was meh.
I go to the Minneapolis show every year, and love it. I get see the cars I read about, get a better idea of the stuff that matters day-to-day – how easy is it to get it and out, is there head/leg room, how does the interior feel, etc. A lot of the brands that don’t show anymore were ones I can’t afford anyhow. There are also sideshows with conversion vans and trucks, funky after-market goods, and some classic cars. Great way to kill a few hours.
You’re absolutely right. There is huge value for consumers in being able to poke around all the new cars without a salesman on your tail. Where else can you do that but at an auto show? I always take a look at the handful of models that I might be considering in the near future, but I spend an equal amount of time getting in and out of all those aspirational models that I’ll likely never be able to afford. It’s fun!
The auto show in my area used to be in February before the pandemic. 2021 it was thrown off and actually moved to a different location and late summer/early fall, but I haven’t been back yet. It was primarily something my dad and I would do but personal issues kept us from going since. A few years when I was young we’d even go to ones in other metros an hour or two away since they were different times of the year.
It helped having friends or employers that would have a hookup for tickets somehow so we’d get in free. Or talk to the brand reps at the Ford display, and they would sign you up to get a gift card when you test drive a vehicle at a Ford dealer later – making back the price of admission back and then some.
There’d sometimes be a concept car that was a season or two old, but I never cared that much about concepts anyway; I think the concepts stopped coming as it got more emphasis on being dealer-supported. Some brands (usually GM/Ford/Chrysler) added ride and drive events that was just a spin around the block.
It’s a fun way to spend an afternoon even if you aren’t a car person. Sometimes my mother or sister would tag along and we’d talk about cars which isn’t something we usually do. In more recent times my mother would attend just to try the massaging seat in the Navigator after seeing it in a commercial.
Of course it was a great way to collect brochures instead of clogging up the mail ordering them like I usually did (even though they were usually full-line ones at the shows) but sometimes other prizes too. I won a model Saturn VUE when those were new by tossing koosh balls in the open sunroof of an L-Series on display. Or maybe it was a trivia thing? Or a combo of it; the latter seems likely, the former was a surprise as I was not a sporting youth.
I see how it is. Post these photos just afterward so that we aren’t all in competition for that Ridgeline.
In all seriousness, the show looks great. Wish we had one close enough for me to justify going to look at all the cool new stuff.
I looked up that volt dance…yikes.
Never heard of this Volt Dance. Looked it up i think you figured out not only why Volts didnt sell as well as why they caught fire.
I guess some higher up at GM just married their 3rd wife, and cmon daddy i always wanted to choreograph a dance and write a song.
There is nothing that can replace the magic of someone actually sitting in a car, taking in the smell, the textures, the feel of the seat on their ass, and thinking “Hot damn, this is really nice. Maybe I CAN swing these payments.”
Dealers innately know that getting someone to sit in the car and taking a test drive is akin to closing ratio fair dust. It just plain works in a way the internet can never touch.
I’m always shocked when people make a major decision based on what they read, or what someone else told them, without actually sitting in the car and taking a drive.
Car shows should still be well supported and prioritized by OEMs.
For me they’ve always been the fun side of working in the industry. I still go to them with a spring in my step and dreams of driving something new, even after 30+ years in the industry.
Interesting thought there.In certain aspects i’ll totally trust car journalists.For example if a bunch of them praise a car’s handling i’m all in.
Other things?Meh