Stellantis officially announced on Wednesday afternoon that it is leaving the North American car show scene. This means that auto shows in the US and Canada will have a lot fewer cars and be much less interesting. The company told Automotive News Canada that “a challenging automotive market” is the reason why it will not be doing the same demos that have helped its roughly dozen car and truck brands connect with customers. Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram have all been very successful, and one reason is that their displays at car shows were very fancy and often had interactive parts. Some customers who would not have gone to Fiat and Alfa Romeo stores otherwise were exposed to them more, which was good for Stellantis’ smaller brands. At the festivals, people always liked going to exhibits like Camp Jeep, where they could drive or ride Jeeps through virtual off-road obstacle courses with different levels of difficulty. It might be the same for families with Dodge, which lets them drive muscle cars with Hemi engines on brief dragstrips. The company Stellantis said in a statement to Automotive News Canada that it is working to improve its marketing strategy for auto shows while focusing on keeping its business basics strong to lessen the effects of North America’s tough auto market. The car company has already said it will not be attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this month and the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, so today’s news isn’t really a surprise. The company says that dealers will be free to choose whether to attend local events in their towns. Stellantis’s attendance at future car shows would be judged “case-by-case,” an American spokesperson said. In the big picture, this change makes me wonder if big car shows will be around in the future in a world that is mostly digital, especially as media spectacles. There are fewer and fewer big trade shows where people can see hundreds of new cars, as well as people from the public and the media. This is because brands prefer to connect with customers online or at smaller, more private events.
