DETROIT MOTOR SHOW: Revitalised 2025 Detroit motor show returns to January

One of the world’s biggest motor shows, the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), has been rebranded and revitalised ahead its next edition in 2025, when it will be known as the Detroit Auto Show and will return to its traditional January scheduling for the first time in five years.

Set to be held over January 10-20 at its traditional venue since 1965, Cobo Centre in downtown Motown (now known as Huntington Place), the reinvigorated Detroit show’s trump card this time around will be more flexibility for stakeholders, who show organisers say won’t be confined by previous schedules and formats.

“As we reimagine the show, we’re being agile about scheduling events to meet the needs and preferences of key stakeholders,” said show co-executive director Rod Alberts.

“OEMs [car-makers] and show partners will have the opportunity to directly reach out to customers with product announcements during the public show or have media- and industry-focused events as in the past.”

The 2020 and 2021 editions of North America’s ‘most important’ motor show were thwarted by COVID, before the 2022 edition was moved to September in the hope that better Autumn weather would entice more exhibitors and attendees.

Last 2023 Detroit show was also hosted in September, but now the decision has been made to return the Detroit show to its traditional winter setting as organisers inject a mix of tradition and flexibility to attract more attendees and auto brands, following the recent demise of the famous Geneva motor show.

A more modern event format is also hoped to be the USP of the born-again 2025 Melbourne Motor Show, which will be held to a similar format as the successful Tokyo Auto Salon in Japan and the SEMA Show in Las Vegas.

The first Detroit motor show was held in 1899, when it became only the second event of its kind after the 1898 Paris show (and the first and only – until 2006 – US auto show to be sanctioned by the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles, and it became a regular fixture in Michigan’s capital city every year since, except for 1941-1953.

The first overseas car-makers showed their wares in 1957, before the Detroit show became an international exhibition in 1987 and was then rebranded as the NAIAS in 1989, when it moved to a January date.

The Detroit show has been held at the 93,000 square-metre Huntington/Cobo Centre since 1965 and attracted a record attendance of 838,066 people in 2003.

But numbers have declined since then, following the popularity of the New York, Los Angeles and Chicago auto shows, and the non-attendance of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz in 2019, before COVID shut the show in 2020-2021.

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