One of the world’s great auto shows took place in Detroit in January as the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) rolled into town to take over the massive Cobo Centre and showcase new technologies, production vehicles and concept cars to hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Part of the show is known as Automobili-D, an event that brings together start-ups, technology companies, automotive businesses, and representatives from government and academia to discuss the industry’s future and exhibit new tech and concepts.

65 start-ups from 10 countries attended this year’s Automobili-D event to exhibit their mobility-focused products. These included companies creating connected vehicle solutions, artificial intelligence-based software solutions for self-driving cars, autopilot systems for trucks, driverless delivery systems, cyber security, flying cars, and a plethora of other high-tech systems that will impact the industry in years to come.

The main course of the Detroit show, however, is the showcase of vehicles, and once again, there was plenty for the public to see – from muscle cars to electric cars, from trucks to high-performance supercars.

However, while the venerable old event, which has a history running back more than 100 years, has been a monster of the auto show scene for generations, the shifting focus of the industry from ‘automotive’ to ‘mobility’ and the rise of technology as a major part of the shift in focus has seen technology-focused shows, such as CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas start to become the hot spot for manufacturers wanting to show off their latest and greatest innovations.

And auto shows in general, as we know from the demise of our own once flourishing shows here in Australia, have found it difficult to keep manufacturers on side. The Detroit show, despite its history and location at the epicentre of the US motoring scene, had to do without the attendance of several big players (this year Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Porsche and Jaguar were not at the show in an official capacity) who are just as likely these days to look outside of the auto shows for interesting and creative ways to debut their cars and engage with consumers.

The organisers of the Detroit Show – the Detroit Auto Dealers Association – recognised that cahnge was required and announced in July last year that the show would, from 2020, be held in June rather than the bitterly cold winter month of January.

“The ability for participating brands to deliver dynamic exhibits and experiential opportunities outside of the show’s four walls for attending journalists, industry members and consumers, will provide new avenues to showcase the products and technologies on display,” organisers said in a statement. “Delivering greater ROI through reduced costs and dynamic opportunities will be a key aspect of the future show.”

Let’s hope it succeeds, as it would be a strange day indeed if a key auto event such as Detroit were to fall be the wayside. Its battle is, perhaps, indicative of the larger scale disruption and change sweeping the industry as a whole.

Whatever its future, for this year at least, there were still some interesting vehicles taking a bow in the Motor City and here are a few of the choice picks.

Source: Motor Trader E-Magazine (Feb 2019)

8 Feb 2019