According to sources close to the matter, Detroit Auto Show organizers are preparing to move the show back to January.
Update 1/12/2024: Show organizers officially announced the Detroit Auto Show will return next January, skipping an event in calendar year 2024. The next show will kick off with a Charity Preview on January 10, 2025, and wrap up on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 20.
The past few years have generally been a turbulent period for auto shows, but perhaps no other event has seen more change than the Detroit Auto Show. After the COVID-19 pandemic scuttled ambitious plans to put on a mixed indoor-outdoor show during the summer months, the Detroit Auto Show has taken place in late September for both 2022 and 2023. Now, according to reporting by The Detroit News, organizers are preparing to announce the event’s return to a January time frame, citing two people close to the matter speaking to the outlet under condition of anonymity.
The last Detroit Auto Show to happen in January was back in 2019, before the pandemic effectively vaporized the auto show calendar for the following two years. This reported date change is not official at the moment, as a media relations spokesperson for the auto show refused to comment further.
Last year, we did see a few notable reveals in Detroit: Ford launched the 2024 F-150, while Jeep showed off the revamped Gladiator, Cadillac announced an updated CT5 sedan and brought the new Acadia. Nevertheless, it was a different atmosphere from years’ past, where the schedule was packed with press conferences and journalists had a dozen reveals or more to handle, rather than a handful.
Other shows since have faced a more challenging environment. Stellantis, for example, pulled out of the LA Auto Show and announced it would not appear at the Chicago Auto Show next month, either. German automakers are skipping the Geneva Motor Show, even as that event finally returns after a four-year absence (again, it last took place in 2019, pre-COVID).
So, will it ultimately matter whether the Detroit Auto Show moves back to January or not? We’ll have to wait and see. When (or if) event organizers do make an announcement regarding the next event, we’ll publish an update to this story.
