Auto Show attendance is down. Are they a futile and unnecessary expense?
Walking around the dual show floors of the Los Angeles Convention Center last week, I couldn’t help but be somewhat underwhelmed. Sure, there were some exciting new vehicles on display – cars like Ford’s Mustang Mach-E, VW’s electric ID. Space Vizzion Concept , a drop-top version of the still-looks-like-a-concept-car Lexus LC, an imposing and stately new Genesis G90 (think bargain Maybach), the new LR Defender and the insane Karma SC2 concept, and the stunning Porsche Taycan – but, on the whole, the more I walked the floors, the more I realized there wasn’t a whole lot of pizzazz on display this year.
Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Bugatti – none bothered to show up this year. Two years ago, all were there. There was a lone Pagani Huayra – $3MM to start, if you have to ask – but it was brought by Brembo, the Italian brake manufacturer.
If we’re honest with ourselves, we all knew that the average car show attendee isn’t in the market for a new Aventador. Lamborghini executives surely knew this. But they made the play for floor space to carry forward the name, the ethos, the mystique of the brand. “Look, honey, a real Lamborghini! I can touch it!”
But times change. My generation, millennials, have frequently been lambasted as anti-car. I think that’s a lazy generalization, but it is true that folks in their 20s and 30s tend to value experiences over just things. Driving a Lamborghini – that’s an experience. Looking at one, these days – hey, I can do that on my PS4. Why should I schlep across town and pay 30 bucks for the privilege?
And it’s not just LA, one of the three largest auto shows in the US (along with New York and Detroit). It’s auto shows the world over. This year, Frankfurt, one of the largest shows in the world, recorded lower attendance than any year in the past 30.* Detroit (formally, the North American International Auto Show) recorded attendance and new vehicle introductions (another metric by which auto shows are measured) down significantly in 2018 and 2019. Indeed, this year, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Jaguar, Porsche and others skipped the event altogether. Detroit’s response? Moving the show to June, when it’s not, you know, really friggin’ cold. As well as adding more interactive exhibits and spaces/closed roads surrounding the venue for test drives. Hopefully it will help. But it may not be enough to save the auto show format as it currently stands.
Manufacturers are leaning towards more intimate, invite-only events where buzz can spread before and after the event – free, or “earned,” media. Chevrolet debuted the C8 Corvette at such an event in Tustin, California, this summer. Porsche showed the all-electric Taycan early September 2019 in Niagara Falls at, again, an invite-only event. Despite being based in California, Tesla skipped the LA show entirely this year – and did a nighttime, live-stream reveal of the new Cybertruck at Elon Musk’s SpaceX HQ in Hawthorne, about 30 minutes southwest of LA.
I personally still enjoy auto shows. I’d like them to thrive. I enjoy sitting in the different models, especially the new ones, playing with their stereos and nav systems and seeing the pristine, perfectly detailed new cars in one place. You don’t have to deal with the inane people who work at dealerships. And it’s good to know what each manufacturer envisions the future looks like, at least for their particular brands. But with the crowds, the expense, the travel, and the rise of alternative mobility solutions in more densely populated parts of the country – electric scooters, bicycle share programs, and the like – one can see why car shows may hold a diminished appeal these days.
Walking the halls of LACC, I felt a little sad at the rapid diminishment of even this, one of the biggest auto shows on the continent. Perhaps it’s cyclical – or perhaps it’s the new normal in today’s rapidly-changing car business. Only time will tell.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Motor_Show_Germany#Attendance