I attended the 2019 Detroit auto show (NAIAS) last January, but unlike other years, it was for work. I spent most of my time in the basement pretending to be interested in autonomous vehicle stuff. It’s a section called AutoMobili-D, and you may have seen it if you got lost looking for the bathrooms.1
Tag: Detroit Auto Show
I wasn’t able to see an auto show in 2017, so I was looking forward to going to the Detroit Auto Show (North American International Auto Show) this year. Of course, life conspired against me, and I almost missed it this year. I was just able to go on the last day, thanks to my wife (she made me go).
(First, a BIG thanks to Mike O. for letting me have his ticket for the Porsche event held prior to the start of the auto show!)
I wrote back in 2007 that the attendance for the Detroit auto show (North American International Auto Show—NAIAS) was down for the fourth consecutive year. The downward trend continued until 2009. Since then, it’s steadily grown again, hitting 795,416 attendees in 2013. That’s close to the all-time record of 808,833 in 2003[1].
I felt fortunate to go to this year’s Detroit Auto Show (er… North American International Auto Show) right before it opened to the public, thanks to my car club. And it was free admission for just $10. <sarcasm>Thanks MotorsportReg.com!</sarcasm>
I didn’t get a golden ticket this year. I don’t get to hang out with the Veruca Salts and Augustus Gloops of this world. I don’t even get platform shoes, a green wig and sing questionable songs. Instead, I went to the NAIAS at Cobo Hall with the unwashed masses. I may need to shower.
There are some perks working in the auto industry. As a lowly, peon engineer I don’t get too many. However, once in a while, I get a golden ticket— an industry preview ticket for the auto show.
Yikes! Is it that time of the year already?
“The average human has about one breast and one testicle.”
–From Statistics 101
(If you’re one of my anal-retentive engineer friends, please don’t e-mail me about that last quote. I know that men technically have breasts as well, even if they’re not the pert, firm type—unless we’re talking about Ricardo Montalbán’s. The statement is meant to be humorous—you know, like a joke.)
[Update 2007-01-16: Added photo slide show of auto show models.]
I’ve been going to the Detroit auto show almost every year that I’ve been in Detroit. Its official name is the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), but since most Americans can’t find North America on a globe, I’ll refer to it as the Detroit auto show. Most Americans probably can’t find Detroit on a map either, but at least they think it’s the capital of Michigan.