- Search Cartoons
- Comic Archive
-
Payne
Store
Henry Payne RSS
Life under the Big Top: Highlights of 30 years of the Detroit auto show
Posted by Talbot Payne on September 18, 2022
The Detroit auto show’s history dates to 1907, when it became an annual event. But organizers took it to another level in 1989 when the Detroit Auto Dealers Association renamed it the North American International Auto Show and moved it to chilly January.
The goal: to compete against the world’s biggest shows in Frankfurt, Tokyo, and Shanghai and burnish Detroit’s global automotive cred. NAIAS became an instant sensation, attracting each year’s first model reveals and the attention of thousands of international journalists.
“It got so big, it was the best show in the world,” said Jason Vines, who attended his first show with Chrysler in the early ’90s. “I’m sorry, Germany and Japan. The Detroit show was the place to go.”
Cobo Center (now named Huntington Place) was transformed into a massive exhibition space showcasing the world’s latest wheels, hottest Hollywood celebrities, and the biggest annual charity event in the world. At its height, NAIAS played host to 79 vehicle introductions (in 2004) and welcomed 5,500 media (2008) — followed by two public weeks attended by nearly 1 million visitors annually.
“All the auto manufacturers were there,” continued Vines, who ultimately became Chrysler communications boss and the ringmaster behind some of the show’s most memorable debuts. “The Detroit show was the international show. When they changed the name, I thought, come on, give me a break — the North American International Auto Show? But it really was the international show, period.”
As NAIAS reboots this year with new September dates following a COVID-induced hiatus of more than three years, the auto show format is in transition with manufacturers favoring remote backdrops and internet buzz to glitzy new model displays. The new show aims to fill that void with activations, outsized attractions, ride ‘n’ drives, and electric monster trucks. Here’s a look in the rearview mirror at some of the Detroit auto show-palooza’s greatest hits.
1992: Jeep shatters expectations
It was the stunt heard ‘round the world. With “Maximum Bob” Lutz, Chrysler’s vice chairman, at the wheel and Mayor Coleman Young riding shotgun, the Jeep Grand Cherokee drove down Jefferson under police escort and up Cobo’s north steps before smashing through the convention center’s glass windows.
Well, it was a little more sophisticated than that.
“The plate glass was fake, it was actually tempered glass that they had put in with explosive charges all around the perimeter,” recalled Lutz, now retired after a legendary career that also included executive stints at BMW AG, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., in an interview.
“There was a guy with a remote — and the moment he saw the front bumper of the Jeep Grand Cherokee an inch from the glass, he triggered the explosives so you had a shower of glass granules.”
Chrysler had concluded that shattering actual glass would have been too dangerous, with shards threatening not only bystanders but Jeep’s precious human cargo.
“It was designed to be safe, and it was a brilliant demonstration of how you can use a low-cost PR stunt to far more effect at a product introduction than you could ever get from conventional advertising,” Lutz said with a smile. “That stunt was on every TV station, every major news media in the U.S. — and around the world.”
There would actually be a sequel in 2006 when Jeep drove another new product — the ’07 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon — off its stand and through Cobo’s glass into the street.
1995: Minivan meets Kermit the Frog
Chrysler was determined to create buzz for its new minivans, the Town & Country, Dodge Grand Caravan and Plymouth Grand Voyager, which featured segment-first sliding doors on both sides and a two-zone climate-control system.
Enter Lutz again, this time hamming it up with Chairman Bob Eaton reading giant storybooks in Mr. Rogers-style sweaters — who were then interrupted by Kermit the Frog piloting a red Caravan over their heads and onto a fake pond’s lily pads, dousing onlookers with water.
“Our stunt matched our message,” recalled Vines. “Our new minivan was going to leapfrog the competition.”
2008: Ram ‘n’ cattle drive
If Jeep’s glass-shattering stunt put the Detroit show on the map, then the Ram cattle drive may be the most ambitious.
Some 120 longhorn steers were trailered in from Oklahoma to accompany the all-new Ram truck (and upstage the new Ford F-150, also introduced at the show that year). They were kept in a parking lot overnight, then escorted down Washington Boulevard by cowboys with a trio of pickups in the middle.
“This could be the greatest thing — or the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life,” recalled Vines, who helped orchestrate the stunt. Sure enough, the spectacle included unscripted activity.
“Some of the longhorns start humping each other,” Vines said, laughing. “And now Chrysler’s CEO was petrified. But event emcee Jim Press (then Chrysler’s marketing chief) was quick on his feet. He said: ‘Look at those big cows trying to get a good look at the new Ram pickup truck!’ The video went viral around the world.”
The celebs
As the event grew in prominence — supercharged by media coverage and a ritzy charity ball — it naturally attracted Hollywood and musical celebrities to Detroit.
The ’06 show featured comedian David Spade, who memorably introduced the new Dodge Caliber with a dig at another Dodge product: “anything is better than Neon.” Eva Longoria, star of TV’s “Desperate Housewives,” unveiled the Chrysler Imperial concept while Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker touted a Cadillac Escalade special edition.
In 2003, the Charity Preview was headlined by superstar (and DaimlerChrysler spokeswoman) Celine Dion, who belted her single “I Drove All Night.”
Country music star Toby Keith introduced the 2009 Ford F-150. GM brought in a who’s who of musical talent in 2008 — Mary J. Blige, Maroon 5 and Detroit’s own Kid Rock — to show off a stage-full of concept cars. Infiniti unveiled its Q50 sedan in 2013 with the help of acrobatic Cirque du Soleil performers. Other notables over the years included Hall & Oates and actor/singer Kevin Bacon.
PR guru Vines was particularly fond of the celebrities who lingered over the sheet metal: “I remember Pixar’s John Lasseter — the creator of the ‘Cars’ movie — he had a ball just walking around the floor with us. And Jay Leno, of course — he really loves cars.”
2006: Aspen blizzard
Chrysler’s first SUV, the Aspen, was introduced by a blizzard of artificial snow from the off-Broadway act Slava’s SnowShow. Paper flakes exploded from the stage, showering the hall in what Autoline’s John McElroy called “the greatest press conference of all time.”
Auto reveals
Glitter aside, sometimes the cars have been the stars at the auto show.
Dozens of memorable vehicles have sauntered across Cobo’s stage, including the Ford GT40 concept supercar (in 2002 and again in 2015), the stunning Cadillac ELR hybrid in 2013, revived Toyota Supra in 2019, New Beetle in 1999, and the outrageous Tomahawk concept motorcycle powered by the Dodge Viper’s V-10 engine (piloted by no less than then-Chrysler Group COO Wolfgang Bernhard in ‘03).
And then there was the bright yellow Corvette Z06 that GM President Mark Reuss unveiled at the 2014 show, its 625-horse, 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 shaking the Cobo rafters of any remaining Slava’s SnowShow flakes.
Reuss gave it a nickname on the spot: “The Big Nasty.”
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.