Motor Bella Might Spell Ciao To Traditional Auto Shows

The skies looked angry, breezes shook the branded flags and a field of tents representing geometry’s greatest hits stood surrounded by vehicles of every genre while squealing tires negotiating high-speed turns on the adjacent track provided the appropriate soundtrack.

What else can you say, but “Motor Bella!” That’s a hybrid of the Motor City and the Italian word “bella” that means “pretty.” So, pretty cars on display near Detroit, the motor city. Motor Bella is actually a placeholder of sorts for the North American International Auto Show that’s been canceled twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been 981 days since we had an auto show. Although we weren’t able to have the North American International Auto Show, we knew there was an opportunity out there to create different and dynamic. Something that would be outdoors and safe for everyone and put people in cars,” said Rod Alberts, executive director of the Detroit Auto Dealers Association, which organizes the NAIAS.

Oh, it’s different and outdoors and a little indoors and does put people in cars and is also another sign that the pre-pandemic days of traditional auto shows held entirely indoors and where show attendees could sit in vehicles but not drive in any may be over.

Indeed Motor Bella isn’t in a convention center or exhibition hall but on the M1 Concourse in Pontiac, Mich. North of Detroit. The facility features a 1.5 mile track that can be rented, event venues and more than 250 private garages.

Automakers and suppliers set up all manner of tents that turned the race course into a sort of four-wheeled Woodstock. Vehicles are on static display inside and outside the tents while attendees could score rides in a Ford Bronco or Jeep vehicle on performance courses.

Those willing to sacrifice recent meals could also experience high G-forces riding in fast cars hitting the track’s turns at high speeds doing hot laps with professional drivers behind the wheel or experience rides on performance courses.

Where automakers would often spend a million dollars or more on glitzy product reveals in past, Ford showed off its new version of the Expedition SUV in the events center with only the assistance of a video. The vehicles didn’t drive on stage or appear from behind a high-tech backdrop. Two models merely stood on either side of the stage and the cloths covering them were removed on cue.

One member of the media wasn’t impressed. “It’s nothing without the buzz!” he told me. Hate to be a buzz kill but automakers may yet get used to saving all that money. Besides, the trend has been building for more than a decade where car companies realized they could use technology to avoid the noise of the competing product reveals at auto shows and simply unveil their new models virtually via webcast or social media.

True story. During my time leading the digital communications team at the former Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, we conducted what may be the first online product reveal in 2006. It was the new version of the Chrysler Sebring. It wasn’t at an auto show but via live webcast at the company’s annual What’s New media program at its Chelsea, Mich. Proving Grounds.

Soon after that the we livestreamed all our auto show product reveals so consumers could see the programs live, in full context, or on demand at their leisure. That was then, now this is the strategy most automakers use to augment onsite coverage and speak directly to consumers.

While using technology to introduce new products altered “media preview days”, the Covid-19 pandemic has also changed the way auto shows are attracting the public. Indoor capacity and spacing restrictions have forced show producers to think outside the convention hall boxes in favor of displays, test drives and entertainment outside their walls.

Normally held in early February during the winter freeze, Chicago moved its show to July with a host of displays, ride opportunities and other attractions outside its McCormick Place base.

“There’s so much to do in Chicago in the summer that doesn’t typically overlap with our February show,” said Chicago Auto Show general manager Dave Sloan in a release. “We had to get creative in order to capture our attendees’ attention at a completely different time in the calendar year. That wasn’t easy, especially when you’re talking about a seven-decade tradition of the Chicago Auto Show being held in February.”

Sloan says the show may return to its traditional February but may incorporate some of the features of this past summer’s run saying, “we will continue to carefully evaluate all the results from this show and decide what aspects of this event we might implement into our show in the future.”

The four-day Motor Bella is not meant to be a total substitute for the North American International Auto show but merely a way to keep the fires burning for dealers and the public until the bigger event’s planned 2022 return to Detroit’s convention center. However, the NAIAS is expected to move from its traditional January run to warmer weather with smaller indoor displays and a wide array of outdoor activities spreading out from the building to various spots in downtown Detroit.

The weather forecast for Motor Bella is dicey. Rain is expected on and off during its run. The DADA’s Rod Alberts says the show will go on rain or shine. It would be tough to put that pent up demand back in the bottle, although if it pours, show goers can quickly find refuge in an automaker’s tent. Nothing like glamping among the new car glitz.

Author’s note: I worked at FCA and its predecessors as Head of Digital Communications from 2005-2016.