Inaugural Southeast Michigan Auto Show organizers responded to need for area event in January without missing a beat

For one hundred, twenty years excepting war-time, our region has held its own car-focused exhibition during winter months around the time when calendars reliably change from an old December 31 to a reset for the next first of January. [1]

Saline Journal precursor D² Enterprises began covering “auto shows” relatively late in this history — back in 1984.

By then, seemingly key elements had been established. The Detroit Automobile Dealers Association (DADA) was sole organizer, having taken over the 1899 event in 1908. Cobo Hall had become its de facto home with its own opening in 1965. [2,3]

That show had been conceived to address the need to sell automobiles during the no man’s land between the transition from Thanksgiving to Christmas holidays, and spring thaw. That timing made sense, when it coincided with annual model change-overs. Depending on who you ask, up until World War I. Maybe the mid-1930s. Definitely with the end of WWII. [4,5]

Although the “Detroit Auto Show” became associated with concept cars never destined for production, a repositioning aimed for the international marketplace in 1989, and glamorous models carefully positioned on display platforms to make the case for one vehicle over another, the essence remained that of making physical connection between manufacturer and consumer. [6-9]

Frank Novak, Marketing and Public Relations Director for Suburban Collection Showplace — organizer of the Southeast Michigan Auto Show that opened yesterday morning in Novi Michigan — reinforced this context. “There are forty shows like this going on right now around this time time of year around the United States. [10,11]

Part of the attraction is that customers are often looking at the coming model year and the previous one. Some want what’s the latest that they can buy; others want deals, or to decide between the two.

There are a lot of practical sides to a show that you can’t get online, or even by going out to shop on your own. What does the car feel like to get into and out of? Will my car seat fit? People who have brand loyalty, or think they have brand loyalty, can literally walk back and forth from a Ford to a Chevy equivalent to see.

I think it’s also important to have shows that address the needs of families. It can be pretty hard to get around to dealerships and do what you need to do with all that’s involved in just getting to the point of deciding which car to buy when you have children with you; or expensive if you have to arrange for childcare every time you go out.

So there’s a ‘right size’ for shows like this: A great variety that you can navigate.

Comparisons with the North American International Auto Show are inevitable — even on this more narrow level of focus. All for naught. NAIAS is now solidly set to come each year with the summer, starting this June. [12]

With that, Suburban Collection Showplace wasted no time in developing a plan to launch its own show to fill the void. Its three-day exposition, running through Sunday, January 6, features over two hundred vehicles in a two-hundred-thousand-plus square foot space. Significant brands represented include BMW, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, GMC, Honda, Lincoln, Mazda, Nissan, Toyota, and Volkswagon. [13-16]

Impressively, more exotic brands are here with vehicles as well: Aston Martin, Bentley, Jaguar, and Rolls-Royce — to name a few.

Earlier today, Detroit Free Press headlined its coverage by noting that this is “not a replacement” for NAIAS. Who ever said it was trying to be?

If anything, the Southeast Michigan Auto Show felt like trade shows of the sort found in Mexico as the broader opportunities of the North American Free Trade Agreement was being rolled out in the mid-1990s. Less emphasis on display structures (or even otherwise ubiquitous pipe and drape). If “cars are the star of the show” anywhere else, here they’ve gone on as solo acts. [18,19]

And while that may have been the DNA of the 1899 exposition first organized by the Tri-State Automobile and Sporting Goods Associations at the Light Guard Armory in Detroit, it is not something that’s been available here in this pure form for quite some time. The Southeast Michigan Auto Show, then, is not only off to a solid start in fulfilling this need, but has room enough to scale to almost double its present size as future demand may require.

For anyone who thinks a new vehicle purchase might be in their future for 2020, this exposition is open for business. Now, in the winter: As needed.

References

1. “North American International Auto Show” Detroit Historical Society.
2. Detroit Auto Dealers Association (home page).
3. “Cobo Center” Detroit Historical Society.
4. “Why car years are ahead of time” Jim Mateja (February 12, 2017) Chicago Tribune.
5. “America’s Next Top Model Year, or: Why New-Car Model Years Aren’t in Sync with the Calendar” Greg Fink (November 11, 2016) Car and Driver.
6. “The Detroit Auto Show through the years” (January 9, 2019) The Detroit News.
7. “Buick Bengal” Dan Pund (January 7, 2001) Car and Driver.
8. “See photos of the Detroit auto show from 40 years ago” mLive.
9. “Time’s up for stereotypes of auto show models” Julie Hinds (January 21, 2018) Detroit Free Press.
10. Suburban Collection Showplace (home page).
11. Southeast Michigan Auto Show (home page).
12. “Detroit auto show inks 7-year venue deal, confirms June 2020 dates” Tanya Wildt (December 8, 2018) Detroit Free Press.
13. “Novi to host Southeast Michigan Auto Show featuring over 35 brands and 250 vehicles” Mark Cavitt (November 14, 2019) The Oakland Press.
14. “Southeast Michigan Auto Show” (January 3, 2020) Saline Journal.
15. “Southeast Michigan Auto Show” (January 4, 2020) Saline Journal.
16. “Southeast Michigan Auto Show” (January 5, 2020) Saline Journal.
17. “New Novi auto show not a replacement for Detroit show, but you can see cars, even exotics” Eric D Lawrence (January 4, 2020) Detroit Free Press.
18. “North American Free Trade Agreement” Peter Bondarenko (1992) Encyclopaedia Britannica.
19. “Mexico: The Time is Now — Expanding opportunities, facilities await US exhibitors” Dell Deaton (July 1994) Exhibitor magazine.
20. “What Is Pipe and Drape? Read All About It!” It’s All Sew Biz.