After 10 days of activities, the 2009 edition of the Detroit Auto Show wrapped up on Sunday with overall attendance falling short of last year's numbers. This is the sixth consecutive year that the show has seen a decrease in attendance, and the numbers dropped by a substantial 50,000 visitors in 2009.
Nearly 650,000 consumers and car buffs passed through the Cobo Center's turnstiles to discover the latest and greatest the industry has to offer.
That's enough to make the organizers of the biggest Canadian shows (Montreal and Toronto) turn green with envy, they who welcome between 200,000 and 250,000 visitors each year. Numbers that are holding steady, mind you.
But on the American auto show scene, Detroit is starting to look like the poor relation. After all, the event that tout's itself as "THE" North American Auto Show now welcomes half as many visitors as its three main rivals, the Los Angeles, Chicago and New York shows, which each receive a million visitors or more.
A turning point
A show's decrease in attendance is more easily explained when it happens in the city of the Big Three at a time of massive layoffs mainly in the very industry that's the bread and butter of a large part of the attendees.
We can still wonder, however, if the absence of six big manufacturers isn't a symptom of something else: the desire to put money on other shows that are now more useful from a strategic and technical point of view.
Strategically, the Los Angeles and New York shows offer manufacturers undeniable benefits. They're held a continent away from each other and thus cover both the East and West of the country. They're presented in both American megalopolises four months apart, which proves more practical than events following hot on the heels of one another with a month or less in between. At a time when original models are rare, spacing their introductions a little more is definitely a good idea.
More welcoming cities
What's more, the Los Angeles and New York shows are held in temperate locales. No snow, no deep freeze and no slush there. Hotels and restaurants abound and are accessible. Meanwhile, in the devastated-looking city of Detroit no one dares go out alone at night.
A few American public relations consultants met by chance at the press conferences in Detroit admitted (anonymously) that these details are very important to their bosses - the industry decision-makers.
Among theses consultants, Asian brand reps also explained that at Detroit, no matter the lengths they go to to kindle the press's interest, GM, Ford and Chrysler invariably get the broadest media coverage.
That's why, according to our sources, we may be seeing the beginnings of a shift of both efforts and investments towards the Los Angeles and New York shows. Events that are judged more "neutral" and that aren't linked with the three American manufacturers.
Only time will confirm, or disprove, this theory.
photo:Philippe Champoux, Matthieu Lambert
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Nearly 650,000 consumers and car buffs passed through the Cobo Center's turnstiles to discover the latest and greatest the industry has to offer.
That's enough to make the organizers of the biggest Canadian shows (Montreal and Toronto) turn green with envy, they who welcome between 200,000 and 250,000 visitors each year. Numbers that are holding steady, mind you.
But on the American auto show scene, Detroit is starting to look like the poor relation. After all, the event that tout's itself as "THE" North American Auto Show now welcomes half as many visitors as its three main rivals, the Los Angeles, Chicago and New York shows, which each receive a million visitors or more.
A turning point
A show's decrease in attendance is more easily explained when it happens in the city of the Big Three at a time of massive layoffs mainly in the very industry that's the bread and butter of a large part of the attendees.
We can still wonder, however, if the absence of six big manufacturers isn't a symptom of something else: the desire to put money on other shows that are now more useful from a strategic and technical point of view.
Strategically, the Los Angeles and New York shows offer manufacturers undeniable benefits. They're held a continent away from each other and thus cover both the East and West of the country. They're presented in both American megalopolises four months apart, which proves more practical than events following hot on the heels of one another with a month or less in between. At a time when original models are rare, spacing their introductions a little more is definitely a good idea.
More welcoming cities
What's more, the Los Angeles and New York shows are held in temperate locales. No snow, no deep freeze and no slush there. Hotels and restaurants abound and are accessible. Meanwhile, in the devastated-looking city of Detroit no one dares go out alone at night.
A few American public relations consultants met by chance at the press conferences in Detroit admitted (anonymously) that these details are very important to their bosses - the industry decision-makers.
Among theses consultants, Asian brand reps also explained that at Detroit, no matter the lengths they go to to kindle the press's interest, GM, Ford and Chrysler invariably get the broadest media coverage.
That's why, according to our sources, we may be seeing the beginnings of a shift of both efforts and investments towards the Los Angeles and New York shows. Events that are judged more "neutral" and that aren't linked with the three American manufacturers.
Only time will confirm, or disprove, this theory.
photo:Philippe Champoux, Matthieu Lambert