(WXYZ) — After being canceled in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID-19 and then running in fall in 2022 and 2023, the North American International Auto Show will return to January in 2025.
Rod Alberts, executive director of the Detroit Auto Show and Detroit Auto Dealers Association, released the following statement about the move back to the beginning of the year:
The Detroit Auto Show is pleased to announce the iconic show will return to its roots with a January 2025 debut. Our primary goal is to create the most impactful event we can and after discussions with numerous constituencies, we believe a January date absolutely makes the most sense. In a constantly changing global automotive landscape, this update reflects our efforts to continue to reimagine the Detroit Auto Show with keeping an eye on our traditional focus – getting people excited about cars.
The show will not be presented at all in 2024, instead returning Friday, Jan. 10, 2025 with the Red Carpet Charity Preview, followed by public days on Jan. 11, 2025, through Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, at Huntington Place in downtown Detroit.
When the show was first moved out of January in December 2018, it was scheduled to be held in January of 2020. That iteration of the show was canceled in March of that year, when Huntington Place, then known at the TCF Center, was converted into a hospital for COVID-19 patients.
It was then announced in January 2021 that that year's show would also be canceled because of the pandemic. It was then set to return in September and October of 2022 and 2023.
In downtown Detroit, restaurants like Olin notice a downtick in business come January. It's a month usually reserved for the auto show, but it's been even slower the last two years.
“It was a little disappointment when it switched to September, but we made the best of it and we take the business when we can get it," said Holly McClain, who co-owns Olin and The Highlands Restaurant at the top of the Renaissance Center with her husband. "When we heard the news today, we were all super excited.”
“The consumers basically reached out on social media and said look, we want it back in January, we can't make it in September, there’s too much going on,'” said Todd Szott, co- chair of the Detroit Auto Show.
Szott says there’s multiple reasons for the date change including conflicts with other events in September. However, the main goal is to increase attendance.
“We were not getting the attendance we were getting in past January's pre-COVID, and we really believe based on feedback from the customers and consumers in particular, it will go up significantly in January," he said.
As for surrounding businesses, they hope that’s true, knowing from experience how much traffic a big auto show can bring to the Motor City.
“We do notice a lot more private events. We do notice a lot more people in town for the auto show," McClain said. "September is generally pretty busy anyway, so it's going to be a great switch to see it come back in January when we could really use the traffic down here.”
