The traditional auto show circuit is in trouble. Numerous automakers have begun to pass over bread-and-butter auto shows for private events, and many brands opt to reveal new cars ahead of scheduled press days at auto shows themselves. The strategy ensures the press is focused on one thing at a time.
Now, Volkswagen chairman Herbert Diess has said the idea of traditional auto shows is dead. He told Motoring in a Tuesday report that auto shows “are a product of the 1960s and they are not as relevant anymore. They’re not delivering what we want and they’re not delivering what car buyers want.”
Diess made the comments at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed, which has become a modern blueprint for what auto shows could morph into. The Detroit Auto Dealers Association (DADA) even attended the FoS to study the event and take away some of the festival’s bright spots.
DADA announced the Detroit show will move from January to June to take advantage of warmer weather and separate itself from the auto show circuit and the Consumer Electronics Show.
The Detroit Auto Show won’t morph into a clone of the Festival of Speed, which would be nearly impossible to recreate in downtown Detroit, but it will take on a more festival-like atmosphere. Organizers plan for food trucks, dynamic vehicle debuts with outdoor displays, ride and drives, concerts and more for showgoers to partake in. Gone will be the days of putzing around COBO Hall to simply see cars spinning on a display.
“People need to see more interaction with the product. They expect it. Those days of relying on tradition are gone,” Diess added.
Comments
So we will go back to what GM did in the early 50s, the Motorama was essentially a single company auto show
This is happening to commercial truck shows as well….and being led by Daimler. The Mid America truck show in Louisville used to be THE event and was the place new product was showcased and premiered. Now almost all the corporate displays are gone (local dealers sometimes sub) and the “new” show in Atlanta is only open to folks with big checkbooks and it is a fish in a barrel high pressure sales environment. Too bad.
VW Chairman Diess is wrong because where else can look and compare cars or trucks from different brands all at once as with the exception of taking a vehicle out for a test drive, going to an auto show makes a lot of sense whether you’re planning to buy a new car or just wanting to check out the direction of auto technology by checking out concept cars.
going to an auto show to SHOP is about the dumbest way to shop possible
you go there to jerk off and kill time because you like cars. no other reason.
Maybe because cars made by VW, Mercedes, Audi, GMC, Ford, etc. are all becoming boring. Technology, design, and innovation have mostly matured and aren’t as interesting anymore. Cars used to be fun, affordable, and distinguishable. Remember the 50’s and 60’s, the GTO, Mustang, and VW Bug.
I hope VW never goes to a auto show ever again, it will be one less car booths I have to walk by to get to my favorite GM brands.
Really what I wish they would do is place all the GM brands in the same area of the show. So I dont have to wonder around looking for them walking threw displays I have zero interest in.
Spoken like a true leader with no value of the past. “Relying on tradition” can easily predict the future. We learn from the past and those who forget this are the ones that always say it’s “old fashioned” yet the companies that hold to true to established core values and not “flash in the pan” stay steady and strong. There’s nothing wrong with new technology and improving but to change simply to change and abandoning what has been learned is foolish.