Detroit Auto Show: The Party's Over
In a sure sign that the party’s over, the Detroit Show’s best free party isn’t even happening this year. In past years, Chrysler has treated journalists to all they cared to each and drink each night at the Firehouse restaurant and bar across the street from Cobo hall. With senior execs tending bar, no less. And to remind the press corps of the OEM’s largesse, their press-only blog was call “the Firehouse.” Still is, in fact. Except now the blog’s name (and the frequent emails announcing each post) will remind journalists of the party that isn’t happening. Will harsher reviews result? Not here at TTAC– can’t get any harsher when the subject is a Chrysler (aside from some love for the Challenger). I for one am not looking forward to heading home early after the show. Enjoyed the food, the beer, and meeting up with other journalists. No more, unless one of the upstart Chinese cares to step in and fill the gap. Bummer.
Michael Karesh lives in West Bloomfield, Michigan, with his wife and three children. In 2003 he received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. While in Chicago he worked at the National Opinion Research Center, a leader in the field of survey research. For his doctoral thesis, he spent a year-and-a-half inside an automaker studying how and how well it understood consumers when developing new products. While pursuing the degree he taught consumer behavior and product development at Oakland University. Since 1999, he has contributed auto reviews to Epinions, where he is currently one of two people in charge of the autos section. Since earning the degree he has continued to care for his children (school, gymnastics, tae-kwan-do...) and write reviews for Epinions and, more recently, The Truth About Cars while developing TrueDelta, a vehicle reliability and price comparison site.
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If they were still under German rule, they'd still be hosting it. After all, it's not beer - it's culture.
Quote" Dave M. : January 8th, 2009 at 11:06 am I never understood why the Detroit show was in January. I can’t imagine a worse time to visit a northern industrial city on the decline. Why not August when the weather cooperates, other auto related events are happening, and the trees/flowers are in bloom?" I agree...100%...so a few years ago, I started asking around as to just why the Deeeeeetroit show is in nasty, dark, cold, wintry January and like you asked, why not host the show in Fall, when the Michigan climate is at it's best...?!?!? The answer I got back from the organizers was...1: We want to be the first show of the year and 2: (the real reason) Auto Sales traditionally are at their worst in the first quarter so the show is put on in January to try and drive the local customers into the showrooms when sales are at their worst...thus once again showing that the Detroit show has always been a dealer-driven show (all the local big dealers run it) and not a manufacturer-driven show...It's a good show compared to most shows in U.S. cities (other than LA and Chicago which are very good shows), but compared to Tokyo, Geneva, Paris and others, the Detroit show is terrible. I even suggested to the organizers that they combine it with the Dream Cruise week and have those two events run back to back. Now you suddenly have 500,000-1,000,000 car enthusiasts in town for the Dream Cruise and many would be very happy to go to the NAIAS as well...You could have Press and Industry week run the same week as the Dream Cruise...the NAIAS show closes Friday and Saturday to let the Cruise shine, and then Sunday the show opens to the public and Whammmmy!! you suddenly have $1,000,000+ people attend in the first few days and shatter all local attendance records.
Stu, August would be too late to preview cars that appear in dealer showrooms in Sept. Once upon a time, the public didn't get to see new product until the new model year's cars hit the dealer showrooms, which was typically in the fall. Some dealers made a big deal of it, papering up the windows so people couldn't get a sneak peak. The LA, Detroit, Chicago and NYC shows were all over by the spring, which allowed buzz to build by the time the new models were at dealers. This year's NAIAS will be a competition by the automakers to show how cheap they are. None of them, at least the domestics, can afford a story in the MSM about wining and dining journalists. Nissan is one-upping everyone by not even letting their SEMI dealers display at NAIAS. Toyota's CEO, Watanabe, bailed on the NAIAS because he doesn't want to get asked about his company's losses. As for swag and eBay, the companies have been cutting back for the past few years, with fewer freebies and simpler press kits.
NickR: "No one leapt over the bar and punched Dieter? Why the hell not?!" Best - post - ever!