The Detroit Auto Show only had about half as many attendees as the event had pre-pandemic.
Yet, organizers are “thrilled,” said show co-chairman Thad Szott.
“What we pulled off here, I think we surprised a lot of people,” Szott said. “A lot of people around the globe did not think we would even have a show. With inventory shortages and the way that manufacturers go to market these days, a lot of people were saying it was going to be a total, total flop or it’s going to get canceled like some other world shows.”
Szott is open about one of the show’s biggest failures, however – measuring the crowd.
Pre-pandemic, organizers released exact attendance numbers. But with the show expanding this year to be indoors at Huntington Place and outdoors at Hart Plaza and the surrounding area in downtown Detroit, organizers didn’t have proper counting methods in place, Szott said.
The show also sold family passes, but failed to count how many people came in on each ticket.
Szott estimates 300,000 to 500,000 people attended overall.
“There were hundreds of thousands of people engaged in the auto show. How many hundreds of thousands? It’s hard to put an exact finger on that,” Szott said. “We’re going to do a better job next year with measuring that.”
In 2019, 774,179 people attended the Detroit Auto Show. It was the last show pre-pandemic and the last time it was hosted in January.
Despite a roughly 50% decline in attendance, this year’s event blew away the 2021 iteration of the show – called Motor Bella and hosted outdoors at Pontiac’s M1 Concourse during a rainy week in September.
Counting was a similar struggle for that event, but organizers targeted 150,000 people.
Here’s a look at how attendance at the Detroit Auto Show has changed since 2007.
(Can’t see the chart? Click here.)
The record for a Detroit Auto Show came in 2003, when 838,066 attended. There was a dip during the recession, but numbers picked up each year after until 2016, when the show had nearly 816,000 attendees.
A ‘reset’ on the auto show concept
Observers grumbled in 2019 when the show saw attendance drop by 35,000. This year’s event was the first back downtown, and it saw hundreds of thousands of fewer guests.
But auto shows around the world have had to adapt or be canceled. The pandemic taught manufacturers they could do product reveals virtually and by themselves, without having to compete against 15 other manufacturers for attention on the same day.
So this year’s show put more attention on experiences. Visitors could take a ride in a Ford Bronco inside Huntington Place and traverse a metal structure nearly scraping rafters. Or they could feel the sensation of an electric F-150 Lightning truck being floored, and then screeching to a stop.
Jeep and Ram also offered rides through an indoor obstacle course – which more than 45,000 visitors got a ride on, Szott said.
“It was way more people than they were anticipating,” he said. “They’ve done some shows in LA, New York and Chicago, and I don’t think they really came even close to those numbers.”
The Bronco ride line occasionally reached two hours, Szott said. Organizers want to improve wait times for 2023. Part of the solution is adding more experiences. There were four indoor test tracks this year, but Szott thinks they can have 10 in 2023.
There’s still room to expand outside and to the lower floor of Huntington Place, which was empty this year.
GM and Volkswagen also offered test drives along the Detroit riverfront. All of these experiences are key for consumers, who are “starving for education” on hybrids and electric vehicles, Szott said.
“There’s still a lot of hesitation because people just don’t understand the technology,” he said. “That show we had was very impactful for those that attended on educating them (and) pulling their comfort level way forward on how this stuff works.”
More than 30 auto brands had displays at the show, including Detroit’s Big 3, luxury brands like Mercedes and Porsche and a handful of flying vehicles.
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Szott has already heard from automakers who didn’t attend the show – who regret not coming.
“They were a little disappointed they didn’t show up this year, particularly when the president showed up and started shaking hands with a lot of CEOs,” Szott said.
President Joe Biden attended the show on Media Day, Sept. 14. He was the first sitting president to attend the event since Barack Obama in 2016.
Biden’s presence put a spotlight on Detroit, its auto industry and the event, said Chris Moyer, senior director of Communications for Visit Detroit.
“Regardless of somebody’s political persuasion, having the president of the United States ... for hours highlighting Detroit, highlighting the sustainable mobility industry that we are leading – this is a commercial for the city, for our region, for our state,” Moyer said. “It is a profoundly good thing for us.”
RELATED: Biden test drives EVs, rallies UAW workers at Detroit Auto Show
Attendance may not have set any records – but hotel revenue did.
During preview week, hotels in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties had their best revenue week ever – in the 126 years it’s been measured, Moyer said. Hotels topped $30 million in revenue, more than $3 million higher than the next best week.
Part of the record is attributed to rising hotel rates, Moyer said. But even during the week of the public show, occupancy was up 24% in the region compared to the week before auto show activity began.
“The auto show added to a sense of vibrancy and vitality in this city and throughout the region that really speaks to Detroit’s growth and continued renaissance,” Moyer said.
The Detroit Auto Show had a $300 million economic impact on the region, Ancora Holdings Group told multiple media sources. While notable, that’s down from an estimated $430 million economic impact in 2019.
Marketing a September auto show has been a bit of a struggle, Szott said, as consumers are accustomed to January. The show will return in September again next year – Sept. 13-24 – as organizers hope the new season eventually becomes ingrained in peoples’ minds.
“There’s still a large percentage of the population I don’t think knew we were having a show in September,” Szott said. “Every year, we’ll get better and better if we stick with the same month.”
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