Coronavirus pandemic | Detroit and Paris auto shows latest in line to get cancelled over COVID-19 uncertainty

Detroit Auto Show (Representative Image)

The coronavirus pandemic has already led to a lot of events from product launches to exhibitions getting scrapped. The latest in line are the Detroit and Paris Auto Shows.

Both the expos have been canceled due to uncertainty even though they were to start in the latter part of the year. The Paris Auto Show was slated for October, while the Detroit expo was scheduled for June.

In a press release, the organizers of the Paris Motion Festival said, given the unprecedented health crisis the 2020 Paris Motor Show will not be able to continue in its current format.

However, they have said that Movin’On, Smart City and other side events are not of concern at the moment and are under discussion with their main partners and examining alternative solutions.

The event, they said, is already being reinvented around sustainable mobility and an important B2B sector. It is still to be seen whether the Paris Auto Show will continue in the new format in 2022.

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The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), more commonly known as the Detroit Auto Show, has also been canceled due to the pandemic.

The organizers of the show are also expecting the Federal Emergency Management Agency to convert the TCF Centre into a temporary field hospital.

“With more than 100 convention centers and facilities around the country being considered to potentially serve as temporary hospitals, it became clear to us that TCF Center would be an inevitable option to serve as a care facility to satisfy our community’s urgent health needs,” said NAIAS Executive Director Rod Alberts.

The press release also stated that show officials are planning a fundraiser later this year for the children’s charities that were to be beneficiaries of this year’s Charity Preview Event.

The Detroit Auto Show is now scheduled to take place in June 2021 and everyone who has already purchased tickets to this year’s event will get full refunds.

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