OPINION: The 2024 New York Auto Show was a ghost.

“This might be my last car show,” a colleague told me as we quickly caught up on a media scrum before the Hyundai Santa Cruz unveiling. The New York International Auto Show has always been a groundbreaking event, but it, and the auto show as a whole, is a pale reflection of what it once was. Media Day used to be two full days of reveals, presentations and events, not to mention his week-long pre-show debut, private events and announcements.

When the seats are removed from a new Ute-like utility truck, my colleague takes the time and effort to fly himself and his team to cover seven or so complete press conferences. I lamented. It will all be over by noon today.

Personally, I feel very nostalgic when the New York Auto Show approaches. It’s my home show and I’ve been attending as part of the press long enough to drop, “Things were different back then.”

Things were different back then.

Back in the day, attending a show as a green car writer was like entering the gates of gearhead paradise and wandering freely through a huge and exciting exhibit. gran turismo We have a menu that allows you to walk through the latest cars and concepts with free access. We crowded in front of the huge stage to watch dramatic presentations and long-awaited announcements. We’re left saying things like, “I just saw Bob Lutz and 50 Cent introducing a badged Holden Commodore as a Pontiac Sport Trac,” and making a fuss about 2024. It sounds like.

Carrying a huge bag of press materials needed to write an article will make you bend at the waist. I networked, met people, and ran my body to pieces trying to see everything. Years passed, and the show in New York became the real beginning of my busy season, in which I participated in the show in various capacities: solo, team, photographer, video presenter. And though the inevitable buildup of apathy has slowly calcified over the years, I still want to take my time with that glow of wonder that, once you look behind the curtain, is hard to recapture. I think. I found a few minutes to put on my headphones and wander around his BMW booth, listening to the Need for Speed ​​soundtrack and pretending I was cycling around in the game’s unlocked car.

Now I can’t remember the last time a BMW was at NYAIS. one year? three? The lockdown has messed up my sense of time. I walked around with only my camera, which I barely took out of my bag. There’s no need for large presentations or moving from stage to stage. Everything is emailed and the story is written.

what happened? how did we get here?

inside baseball

Over the past five years or so, there have been many articles talking about “car shows are over” and other compelling headlines asking the same question, but without getting into attendance numbers or detailed analysis, what has changed? So let’s evaluate everything.
Perhaps that’s painting too broadly a brush, but everything that justifies car shows has undergone a major upheaval. Let’s talk about car manufacturers. Companies that manufacture automobiles rely on these industry events to introduce their latest products to the world. Ford’s Mustang itself debuted here at the New York show 60 years ago. Today, brands can reach millions of people with a simple campaign on social media. Speaking of media…

In this synergistic agreement that we in the auto media have with automakers, the show provides a vast source of product information, first looks, original photos, and detailed information long before it hits the dealer’s showroom. It will be. We needed a show because brands needed us to talk about their products. Not to spoil the magic, but this still applies. What used to be seen in shows is now being shown in smaller events with fewer attendees, reaching far more people than just emails for media assets. Even if a vehicle is debuting at a car show, attendance at the launch event is supplemental and not required.

Technology is changing, automotive interests are changing, and the entire industry is in a state of massive transition to electrification. It’s probably worth mentioning the two recessions and the pandemic, which may have muddied things a bit.

game over

We may be accustomed to staying within our little auto industry bubble, but if we look beyond that, we’ll see similar changes happening elsewhere. Take video games, a multi-billion dollar entertainment industry. The industry had its own trade event, E3. The Electronic Entertainment Expo may not have been around as long as other major auto shows, but it’s a place where industry giants like Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft unveil their latest consoles and the biggest games to come. I did.

As our connected world becomes smaller, game makers are competing for attention and hosting their own events that don’t require their own streaming presentations, like Nintendo Direct or Sony’s State of Play. Succeeded. E3 struggled to recover following coronavirus-related cancellations and was officially canceled in 2023.

Is it possible that auto shows will go in the same direction as E3? That’s not out of the question. Ford could stream the Mach unveiling from the comfort of its Dearborn headquarters if it wanted to, but there are still key elements to the auto show that make it worthwhile. That is you.

“It’s not for you.”

One year, at the end of a particularly difficult Los Angeles Auto Show, the event organizers asked me how things were going. Exhausted from numerous off-site presentations that year, I casually joked about how hard this show had been for me. He laughed and said very frankly: “You know this show isn’t for you, right?”

After being taken off the peg, the organizers pointed out my narrow media focus on the show and made me realize how important this event is for dealers, suppliers, and other industry players to come together and do business. I explained why it wasn’t done. “There’s a deal going on here,” he said, gesturing toward the convention center.

I always keep that in mind and remind myself that even though we’re seeing media decline, it’s only part of the picture. Beyond the business side, auto shows continue to be a place for consumers and car enthusiasts to get an up-close-and-personal look at the latest vehicles, whether for cross-shopping or for enthusiasts. Coincidentally, the New York Auto Show is traditionally held to coincide with Easter weekend. For many, this day is closely associated with the holiday, and the visit has been part of the family’s annual tradition for generations. For automakers, public attendance and actual consumer views of their products are far more valuable than the automaker’s opinions. top gear I had to say about very few media components.

As long as the auto show concept is valuable to attendees, auto shows will continue in some form, even if the scope is reduced. It’s okay to feel like auto shows have declined because the media era was pretty thin. That’s not what it’s about. That never happened. Will this be my last auto show? I hope not, but it’s up to you.