{"id":23434,"date":"2019-02-11T18:26:52","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T22:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=23434"},"modified":"2019-02-11T18:26:52","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T22:26:52","slug":"chicago-auto-show-picks-up-where-detroit-left-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/chicago-auto-show-picks-up-where-detroit-left-off","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Auto Show picks up where Detroit left off"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chicago<\/p>\n

Mercedes and BMW are stiffing the Chicago Auto Show this year, just as they did with the Detroit show. Beginning\u00a0Thursday, the\u00a0Windy City will open to single-digit\u00a0temperatures and 20 mph gusts off frigid Lake Michigan. There will be few show-stopping reveals from any of the major automakers.<\/p>\n

And show organizers are just fine with that.<\/p>\n

While the Detroit auto show is undergoing a major overhaul from January to June 2020 to re-energize automakers and rebrand itself as a summer show, Chicago is content\u00a0with its lot in life as a winter showcase.<\/p>\n

“February just works for us because it\u2019s a long winter and we have 1 million square feet in McCormick Place to stretch our\u00a0legs,” says show general manager Dave Sloan.\u00a0“We had a sunny weekend a couple of\u00a0years ago and it hurt our\u00a0attendance. It was\u00a0too nice outside.”<\/p>\n

McCormick Place, of course, is the Second City’s massive 2.7-million-square foot downtown\u00a0convention center. Even utilizing less than half McCormick’s sprawling footprint, the Chicago event\u00a0is the largest auto show\u00a0in North America.<\/p>\n

Despite the absence of\u00a0major premieres and the two luxury-makers, the sheer size of Chicago’s showcase still commands the presence of every other major automaker. And with Detroit vacating its\u00a0winter show spot next year, Sloan thinks Chicago might become even more of a media attraction\u00a0if automakers choose to debut their 2021\u00a0models in McCormick.<\/p>\n

“We’re happy to have a little more space in front of us,” says Sloan, adding that he hopes being the first 2020 show will bring more big\u00a0reveals.\u00a0“We\u00a0know how important the media preview is. We\u00a0know it\u2019s a small pie but hope to get a bigger piece of it.”<\/p>\n

In the meantime Chicago will welcome some\u00a020 new media reveals over the next two days that will largely feature trim upgrades and anniversary editions of\u00a0existing models.<\/p>\n

The exception\u00a0will be the new Range Rover Evoque SUV and Subaru Legacy sedan, both important\u00a0high-volume vehicles for their brands.<\/p>\n

The Evoque will debut at the Chicago Economic Club, then make its way to the show floor where the English automaker has constructed a 16-foot hill so show-goers can sample its off-road chops \u2014 and ogle the brand’s first 48-volt mild-hybrid drivetrain.<\/p>\n

A sexier Legacy tries to hang on to mid-size sedan customers with Subaru’s signature all-wheel drive and a Tesla-like tablet screen.<\/p>\n

Reveals will also include a sport-trim\u00a0of the Cadillac XT5, a first public\u00a0look at the Chevy Silverado Heavy Duty pickup, and a new V-8 powered Ford F-series heavy duty. More Detroit-based automaker reveals include a\u00a0special\u00a0“Cranberry Wine-stitched” edition of the Chrysler Pacifica minivan\u00a0\u2014\u00a0celebrating 35 years of Chrysler vans \u2014 and an eyeball-burning\u00a0“Sublime” green upgrade to Dodge’s muscle-car lineup.<\/p>\n

Rumors have it that a special-trim Alfa Romeo\u00a0and Ram truck might sneak into the show as well.<\/p>\n

From foreign automakers will come a powerful version of the Volkswagen\u00a0Jetta called the GLI (think of the iconic Golf GTI hatchback but in sedan form). The snazzy Kia Sportage compact SUV gets a facelift for 2020. Filling out the menu are tasty snacks like a 30th-anniversary Mazda Miata sports car and a special-edition Nissan Pathfinder.<\/p>\n

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That’s it. Cars, cars, cars. No nods to the self-driving future. No tech talks. No futuristic conferences like LA’s Automobility or Detroit’s Automobili-D to noodle about sustainable self-driving.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

“We\u2019re going\u00a0to celebrate America\u2019s love affair with the car. There are\u00a0a lot of cars to be sold between now and autonomy,” says Sloan.<\/p>\n

After the last of the estimated 3,400 members of the automotive press snap their\u00a0pictures Friday, the party really gets started.<\/p>\n

Chicago society comes out for a big charity bash Friday night \u2014 shades of Detroit’s Charity Preview \u2014 to raise over $2 million for good causes. Then the fans start to line up for the public show\u00a0Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

“The magic happens in Chicago at 9 a.m. on Saturday and we don\u2019t even open until 10. People\u00a0line up outside\u00a0because they want to run back to the Jeep test track \u2013 it\u2019s like a riding a roller-coaster and they never get tired\u00a0of it,” says Sloan.<\/div>\n

The Jeep track is one of four indoor tracks that help pack in the customers. “Managers call it dwell time,” says Sloan of the opportunity for customers to experience cars as well as be approached by floor staff.<\/p>\n

There are six\u00a0more ride experiences outside McCormick, a\u00a0tradition that has inspired shows like Detroit to do their own.<\/div>\n

The show doesn’t\u00a0give official attendance figures, but it is widely considered to be the best-attended in the country.<\/p>\n

Sloan, who runs the show on behalf of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, is aware of the winds of change buffeting the industry and its marketing shows.<\/p>\n

“We have to figure out where auto shows are going,” he muses.\u00a0“Times are changing and we need to know how to keep bringing consumers to the show.”<\/p>\n

Being the country’s biggest, best-attended stage has its advantages. Especially now that it will be the first\u00a0calendar-year 2020 show in the U.S.<\/p>\n

“This is still a very effective way of allowing automakers to market their products,” smiles Sloan.<\/p>\n

Chicago Auto Show<\/strong>
\nMedia days: Thursday and Friday
\nPublic days: Saturday through Feb. 18<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mercedes and BMW are stiffing the Chicago Auto Show this year, just as they did with the Detroit show. Beginning\u00a0Thursday, the\u00a0Windy City will open to single-digit\u00a0temperatures and 20 mph gusts off frigid Lake Michigan. There will be few show-stopping reveals from any of the major automakers. And show organizers are just fine with that. While […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23434"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23434\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}