#ChicagoAutoShow

The question I posed in the headline is an interesting one. There's been a lot of consternation that auto shows are dying, set to be killed by a changing world.

The presence of the 2025 Kia K5 at the 2024 Chicago Auto Show is a reminder that the K5 still exists.

The 2024 Chicago Auto Show is a slow one, debut-wise, this year. This makes Kia the star of this year's show by default.

News broke earlier this week that Stellantis would pull out of auto shows, including the upcoming Chicago Auto Show, for the foreseeable future.

As February ends, we look back a couple of weeks to the 2023 Chicago Auto Show on our latest podcast.

It's shameless self-promotion time! I will be doing a Facebook Live with ABC 7 Chicago Eyewitness News from the Chicago Auto Show at noon Central time today.

Hyundai will begin offering monthly subscriptions to its electric vehicles via the new Evolve+ program. Automakers have dabbled with subscription schemes fairly often over the last few years and we’ve usually come out complaining about how they’re a poor value, often representing the most expensive way to get into an automobile. However, there’s always a chance something like this could fit into your lifestyle, so let’s see what Hyundai is offering.

The Chicago Auto Show has often been a dreary event from a new-vehicle launch perspective. A fun event for consumers, sure, but often overshadowed in terms of vehicle debuts by the shows in Detroit, New York, and Los Angeles.

I am not sure if I should even do this QOTD, but it's a Friday and there's a big football game this weekend, so it feels appropriate. It's not car related, and it's the kind of question that could break the internet, but I am going to ask it anyway.

What style of pizza do you prefer?

Amid a digital backdrop showing stark b-roll scenes from various National Parks, under a cloud of smoke haze and inexplicable soap bubbles, and flanked by a booth filled with rescue puppies, the 2024 Subaru Crosstrek compact crossover was revealed today at the Chicago Auto Show. While this third-generation crossover does not look markedly different from the prior model, perhaps the most notable announcement was that production of some Crosstrek models will be shifted from Japan to the venerable Subaru of Indiana Automotive plant in Lafayette, Indiana.

Today's QOTD is pretty self-explanatory. What vehicle that debuted here in Chicago caused you to sit up and take notice?

This afternoon I will be moving my base of operations from Chicago's North Side to its Near South Side for the duration of the week. That's because it's time for the press days for the 2023 Chicago Auto Show.

As you might be aware, Thursday was the first day of media previews for the 2022 Chicago Auto Show. Both editor Tim and yours truly are in attendance – Tim’s a local, and I really needed a few days away from the day job. I can’t, however, shake the feeling that the entire show is on something resembling life support. Beyond that, I wonder if my impressions of the show are a metaphor for the auto industry in total.

Retro-filled shots to the arm are a popular way to endear a car company to its fan base, especially us pickup truck wonks who pine for the so-called ‘good old days’ when things weren’t really good at all. Nevertheless, it generally only takes a stripe-n-wheel package to get some fans all hot and bothered – and Nissan has tapped into this with gusto at the Chicago Auto Show.

The 2020 Chicago Auto Show was the last one before the world shut down due to COVID-19. The 2021 Chicago Auto Show was the first one to be held as the world reopens.

And boy, was it surreal. Not that I’m complaining — in-person auto shows beat the hell out of Zoom.