News that the North American International Auto Show is on hold again this year is causing speculation that we’ll never see a big auto show here again. Not so fast says NAIAS Chairman Doug North. He talks with Nolan Finley about their new event in Pontiac called Motor Bella next fall.

 

Read the Full Transcript Here:

Nolan Finley:

Why don’t you tell us what Motor Bella is going to be this summer and what what you hope to accomplish here?

Doug North, NAIAS Chairman:

Motor Bella was really intended originally the motor kind of speaking to British motoring. So was British and then Belo, which is, of course, beautiful or nice in Italian for the Italian products. And we had hoped to have, you know, some of the super cars and vehicles from Britain and Italy that we wouldn’t normally have on the show. But it has evolved how it’s how I would put it. And as we considered moving the show from June, then trying to move it to September, it kind of took on a little bit of a new light, because when we did that, we couldn’t do it downtown originally because we thought there would be baseball games that time. And so we we planned on moving it out to M1. And then that gave us some additional capability, as you might imagine, having at one point five mile trek out there.

Nolan Finley:

What elements of the auto show that we’re accustomed to will move out to Pontiac for the Motor Bella event?

Doug North, NAIAS Chairman:

So we’re hopeful that you’ll see many brands represented with a variety of products and then, of course, will have the opportunity to really see a lot of activations. You may see autonomous vehicles you may be able to ride in one. You might be able to ride with a pro driver doing a drifting run around the track or even watching them do drifting and see how some of these vehicles perform under circumstances that we really couldn’t replicate downtown.

Nolan Finley:

Will the Auto Show return?  Will it come back, Doug North?

Doug North, NAIAS Chairman:

It is our intent and our hope that it comes back. It would be our goal and our hope to have it returned to Detroit in September of 2022.

Nolan Finley:

How much of the support network for the auto show, if you lost the infrastructure, all the companies, all the people who used to come together to make the auto show happen, how much of that is still intact?

Doug North, NAIAS Chairman:

You know, surprisingly, we have a great deal of support from many of our stakeholders and our partners, certainly the city and the mayor. The big three heads have stated verbally their support for what we do in Detroit and not to mention many of the sponsors and theOEMs as well as many of their suppliers. And it’s really been remarkable how strong the support has been that they want to continue. They would like to see it continue. And we’ve really been very pleasantly surprised, given how long it’s been since we’ve had a show. It was two years, you know, literally about now since we’ve had a show. 

Nolan Finley:

We know that COVID-19 has changed a lot of things, but people have continued to buy cars, buy trucks, shop, and a lot of that has moved online.  Do you think a live event like an auto show is will still be relevant in post-COVID times?

Doug North, NAIAS Chairman:

It’s true, many of the manufacturers are not only showing new product, but they’re revealing product online for either specific media or specific groups. But at the end of the day, you can’t smell a new car online.

There’s certainly an emotional draw to buying a car, too. And so, you know, we really strongly believe in what shows represent and what it allows the consumer to do. But we know that there’s an evolution there and we’re going to continue to watch it and be prepared for it. And if we can in some way assist or augment consumers looking at product both ways, we’re certainly going to do it.