North American International Auto Show

TITLE: North American International Auto Show (NAIAS)WHERE: Detroit, USA

WHEN: Annually, usually in early JanuaryNEXT: January 9-22 2012 (Media January 9-10)STATUS: North America’s premiere new automobile expoDATING back to 1907 at the ‘Beller’s Beer Garden’ at Riverside Park on the St Lawrence Seaway – Motown’s biggest new-car shindig has been held annually ever since (except between 1943 and 1952).

The event moved to its current home at the Cobo Centre in downtown Detroit in 1961, and has grown in stature to become the year’s first big international motor show event.

It is here on their home turf that the Detroit Three reserve their most important new model announcements and mount their most impressive motor show stands to send a signal to the world’s car makers that they are not done with yet.

The Detroit show changed to being known as the NAIAS in 1989, and has become an increasingly important exposition despite the city’s (and the US car industry’s) much-publicised decline.

The 2011 event attracted more than 5100 media representatives from 55 countries. More than 50 new models and 15 concept cars were unveiled in front of 21,700 motor industry executives from around the world. More than 735,000 members of the public attended the show.

It is estimated that the NAIAS contributes about $375 million to the Detroit economy each year. It is one of only a few motor shows in the United States sanctioned by the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles.