Tagged: NAIAS

Nissan found itself in the spotlight at the North American International Auto Show today.  But not entirely for reasons that would please company executives.

The North American International Auto Show in Detroit kicks off on Monday with preview days for the international press.

The show opens to the public next Saturday.   One of the highlights this year may not even be a car.

Auto show vice chairman Bob Schuman is pretty confident that everyone who goes to the show will be talking about the new Corvette, Chevy's top of the line sports car.   But they may also be talking about the ongoing Cobo renovation. Cobo has a new atrium that opens up the convention center to a view of the river and the Windsor skyline.

Attendance is up about ten percent at the North American International Auto Show.   

195,000 people attended the show on Saturday and Sunday, the first two days the show was open to the public. That compares to about 180,000 people the first two days of the show last year.

Of course, the weather has been quite good for Michigan this time of year. But organizers think there's more than that to account for the increase.

Detroit Auto Show Chairman Bill Perkins says there’s a feeling of “euphoria."

Media preview days have begun at the North American International Auto Show at Cobo Hall in Detroit. Michigan Radio's auto-beat reporter Tracy Samilton is at the show and spoke with us this morning about what we should look for over the next week.

The North American International Auto Show gets underway in just a couple of weeks in Detroit.  While the show is still really big, it’s facing new competitors. 

India-based Jaguar and Land Rover are skipping the Detroit auto show this year to focus on a show in New Delhi.  In recent years, some big launches happened at China auto shows instead of Detroit.    

Michelle Krebs is with Edmunds.com.   She says Detroit’s auto show also has domestic competitors.

"New York, Chicago and L.A. all want to take a big piece of Detroit’s premier status," she notes.

For the second year in a row, attendance at the North American International Auto Show increased.

It's not just good news for Detroit. It could also be good news for Chicago.

The 2011 Chicago Auto Show kicks off in two weeks.

Its organizers say they’re encouraged by the figures out of Detroit where 735,000 people attended this year’s show.

That’s about 20,000 more than last year.

It's not a huge increase, but it is a change from years of steady decline.
Paul Brian works with the Chicago Auto Show, which attracts a lot more people than the Detroit Auto Show. Brian says regional rivalries aside

"It's kind of like whether you’re Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines - everybody’s playing on the same team. If it’s good for the Detroit show, it’s good for Chicago, and New York, and LA, and it’s good for the industry."

After all, buzz is buzz.