Detroit, MI USA – The 2025 Detroit Auto Show has kicked off with a whimper at Huntington Place (formerly Cobo Hall) in downtown Detroit.

After the Covid pandemic and several years of trying (and failing) to reinvent themselves as an outdoorsy September show, Detroit finally gave up and returned to their old scheduled spot on the calendar in January. Whether the automakers realized during Covid that they didn’t necessarily need to spend millions of dollars making appearances at auto shows when they could release things online to a greater and more immediate impact, or whether Detroit has just fallen so far in influence that nobody is bothering to participate, is up for debate. However, the event no longer goes by the moniker “North American International Auto Show” but “The Detroit Auto Show” and that may be a clue.

The American companies put forth a good effort to support their hometown show but even they held back. Stellantis (formerly Chrysler) put forth the biggest effort, with numerous variations of their models, a concept car, and the indoor Jeep Experience which allows visitors a chance to experience the capabilities of Jeeps vehicles firsthand on an indoor obstacle course that features various torture devices designed to show off Jeep suspension technology. GM had all its divisions present vehicles but their floor space seemed underutilized. Ford also had a large presence and brought a few preproduction cars and it’s own Bronco demonstration course to allow visitors to experience the capability of the Bronco’s off-road abilities. Kia brought a concept car along for their small display. Aside from that, there were a few dealership displays representing some of the other automakers like BMW, Honda, Mazda, and Toyota.

At least 60% of the floorspace was dedicated to demonstration tracks so visitors could experience some vehicles firsthand. As I mentioned, Jeep and Ford each had an off-road demonstration set up. There was also an internal combustion engine test track featuring underpowered IC cars and a very crowded electric vehicle test track.

While it’s always interesting to get a personal experience with vehicles you haven’t had the opportunity to drive in the wild, it’s disappointing to find that the wheels can’t get decent traction of the well-polished concrete floors that mimic the ice outside. It’s also disappointing to be relegated to the passenger seat and unable to experience the controls, which are 90% of the driving experience. The large number of demonstration tracks also made Huntington Place look positively barren inside.

Rather than media days being a two-day affair as it is usually, this year it was a single day affair and combined with supplier days, when all the employees of automakers and their suppliers can come for a more relaxed show tour. Even so, it was not busy.

The focus of many displays was electric cars. Many of the automakers have poured billions into electric cars and were keen to display them this year. Cadillac had no fewer than three new electric vehicles on display. GMC had several as well. Stellantis had one of their new Chargers present, but I was surprised they only had one.

The Detroit Auto Show has fallen far from its former glory days. Whether it can recapture the magic or becomes just another regional auto show remains to be seen. Or perhaps we’re witnessing the dwindling influence of auto shows in general.

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