PublishedSeptember 11, 2022, 12:03
AutomobileA brand new Detroit Motor Show for its big comeback
Put on hold because of the coronavirus, the high mass of the cradle of the automobile in the United States will change skin on Wednesday: in September, outdoors and in all sobriety.
Previously (here the 2019 edition, the last before the pandemic), the Detroit Auto Show liked to impress. From now on, he intends to get closer to consumers.
REUTERS
Having been sidelined for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Detroit Auto Show will sign its big comeback on Wednesday with a new approach, which is intended to be less flashy. the eye. The event now takes place in September, instead of January, in order to be organized partly outdoors. It offers pride of place to the many electric vehicles present at the show, a sign of the first steps towards the long transition of the American automotive industry.
U.S. President Joe Biden will visit the show on the media-only opening day to promote his administration’s efforts to encourage the adoption of electric vehicles.
And the atmosphere promises to be different: at the height of its glory, the show was known for the petits fours and cases of champagne distributed by the major manufacturers in Detroit, but also by major international groups such as Toyota or Mercedes-Benz, during fanfare presentations of their gleaming machines. An atmosphere that today’s organizers do not intend to reproduce, a sign of the profound changes in society since the last show in 2019.
“We can’t keep doing what we’ve always done,” said Detroit Dealer Association executive director Rod Alberts, “you have to take risks at some point.”
Mobility by air
Unlike when the show was held in the winter, visitors will have the opportunity to test drive the cars in downtown Detroit. “A show above the show” will come to show the emerging mobility solutions by air. It is also a way of making up for the lack of novelty among automobiles, in particular due to the absence of major international groups.
“The days of show-stopping auto shows are over,” said Cox Automotive analyst Michelle Krebs. The Detroit Motor Show is not the first to be faced with existential questions. In Europe, that of Geneva has been canceled for the fourth consecutive year and will settle in Doha (Qatar), while that of Frankfurt has gone to Munich to become a show devoted to “mobility”. Scheduled for next month, the Paris Motor Show is expected to be smaller than in the past.
Half a million visitors as a goal
If the Detroit Motor Show wants to go back to basics and get closer to consumers, it remains a media event, with more than 2,000 accredited journalists from around 30 countries, and, according to Rod Alberts, the switch to electric also offers the opportunity for the public to “understand these new technologies and better adopt them”. If it is difficult to have a precise idea of the attendance after two years of absence, Rod Alberts estimates that the figure of 500,000 visitors would be a success, for an event which attracted more than 700,000 at most. strong in his glory.
The new Mustang featured?
For its part, Ford could create the event, by unveiling to the public the seventh generation of its emblematic Mustang, on which the group has kept the mystery, in particular as to its engine, thermal or electric. The launch of the Mustang had been announced by the group’s managing director, Jim Farley, last July on Twitter, with a race bringing together the six previous generations and crossing nine states, from that of Washington, on the west coast – to the border with Canada – as far as Michigan.
The online presentation is popular
One of the main changes concerns the launch of new models, manufacturers having discovered during the pandemic the virtues of an online presentation, which is significantly less expensive than a stand at a trade show. This is the choice made by General Motors for its highly anticipated Equinox EV, which was presented online on Thursday, a week before Detroit.
“The way we unveil new products has evolved over the past few years to find ways to reach more people,” GM spokesman Chad Lyons said, noting that the Equinox and other vehicles electric range will be present again in Detroit.
(AFP)