Commentary: Detroit auto show poised to disappoint again

As Michael Martinez and his Automotive News colleagues reported last week, several brands have confirmed they are not going to have stands at this year’s show: Volkswagen, Audi, Jaguar, Land Rover, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Volvo, Kia, Hyundai, Genesis, Nissan, Subaru, Mazda, Lexus, Polestar and Lucid. Honda had already told us that auto shows have been delegated to local dealer groups.

Some of these have got to sting. Subaru was one of two Japanese brands at the show; now it’s out.

Hyundai, Genesis and Kia were probably the Detroit show’s best bet for adding important brands. Hyundai Group has been very active at other big U.S. shows — it and Stellantis have really been the pillars for New York and Los Angeles. But Detroit had no luck with those three Korean brands.

The absence of the (non-Stellantis) European brands is no surprise. Porsche in Los Angeles is about the only participation still going in this country.

A big part of the problem is that Detroit is a very hard market for international brands to conquest sales. A lot of car consumers work for the Detroit automakers or their suppliers. If they don’t have employee discounts, they can probably get a “friends and family” deal. Many others are simply loyal because of family history or regional pride.

Not that there isn’t any diversity of taste in Detroit, but the people who want a Honda or a BMW or a Tesla know how to find them.

Auto shows have been struggling. Most of the once-global shows are now regional, or just national: Paris is mostly French brands; Munich (formerly in Frankfurt) is mostly German. Only Japanese brands exhibit in Tokyo.

The pandemic didn’t help. First, it was important to not have large groups of people breathing on each other. Then, supply was so tight that brands didn’t need to spend money spurring demand: They already couldn’t keep up.

I don’t resent the Detroit auto show for its inability to attract foreign-based brands. Maybe it just has to become more of a local get-together of the U.S. auto industry where Ford, Chevy and Ram fans can see their favorite products and key domestic rivals. It’s fast becoming like a three-company picnic with a few industry neighbors tagging along.

The problem is misleading people about what the show is going to be like this year. If anyone believes them and expects to walk into an old-school international auto show with the whole market on display … well, they are going to be very disappointed.