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Detroit has had bragging rights as the best and most prestigious auto show, though others around the country have become popular and some big companies began skipping Detroit's.
Now, BMW has decided not to partake in the 2019 show. Lawrence Ulrich, former chief auto critic for the New York Times, tells at The Drive why that's a big deal:
It’s official: The Detroit Auto Show is in full-blown crisis. BMW’s decision to ditch Motown’s 2019 show—in a city that’s already seen defections from Mercedes-Benz, Mazda, Land Rover, Tesla and most ultra-luxury brands—makes it clear that Detroit’s decades-long reign as the nation’s preeminent auto show is at an end.
The Drive had it right just a few months ago, when I called out January’s North American International Auto Show—the most boring and irrelevant auto show in my long career of covering Detroit—as largely a fraud. We got it even more right when I argued that, to survive, Detroit must swallow its pride and move its show to fall—specifically, to October. That move would put Detroit front-and-center as the first major American show of each new model year.
As things stand, Detroit is being blitzed by the competition; and not only traditional show cities, but also the tech-media-heavy Consumer Electronics Show (or CES) in Las Vegas.
Here’s what we said then: It's become obvious that Detroit must move from its January time slot to stay relevant and revive its once-prime position. October would be the ideal month because it’s the traditional beginning of a new model year. It would come on the heels of Frankfurt in September, but well before the LA show and CES, encouraging automakers to introduce the most important North American cars in Detroit.
And journalists and attendees from around the world would see Michigan weather at its crisp, fall-color best, rather than a depressing Arctic tundra with perilous roads and the constant threat of flight delays and cancellations.