Driving Detroit's Image

Each year, Detroit rolls out its welcome wagon to help woo the 6,800 journalists from 63 countries who descend upon the Motor City for the North American International Auto Show.

The show itself adds more than $500 million annually to the southeast Michigan economy, with nearly $100 million directly to Detroit, and brings back reporters from around the globe year after year to experience the city. Their first priority is to see the cars, but a warm welcome helps.

With this year’s milder than usual January weather, journalists could air their lungs in between unveilings and view a transformed General Motors Renaissance Center, a spectacular Campus Martius ice skating rink, a working People Mover and brand new sidewalks surrounding Cobo.

“You can feel the energy of revitalization — it is vibrant,” says Michael Rose, a former Detroiter who produces PBS shows on cars from a studio in Los Angeles. “They took the forlorn, abandoned storefronts and made residential lofts. That made a lot of sense.”

Kathy Jackson, another Detroit ex-patriot living in Los Angeles, says she ice skated in the rink on Campus Martius, her brief fling with fitness before cranking out stories on major model introductions for Automotive News. “The new YMCA building looks amazing. I can’t wait to see the inside.”

“The Detroit show is a tradition,” says Steve Purdy, a freelance photographer from Lansing who was visiting the show for the 43rd time. “At first it took four hours to drive to Detroit before the freeways were built. Then it became easy but the roads were strewn with litter. I’m impressed with how much the city has cleaned up litter and spruced up dead buildings. I can feel a come back.”

First impressions

Detroit has a showcase for itself when journalists flock to cover the best-attended press days of any auto show in America, but the sheer crush of 60 introductions and double-decker exhibits doesn’t leave a lot of time for discovery, so first impressions are important.

Michelin North America creates a 22,000-square-foot media center and equips it with tables, telephones, computers and global flags for working journalists. People bemoan the lack of easily accessible transportation to suburban shopping malls but appreciate shuttle services to area hotels.

Varied automakers took small groups of journalists to dinner at Opus One, the Rattlesnake Club and the Detroit Athletic Club, showcasing a portion of town as their shuttle buses whizzed around. Favorable car reviews in international journals can lead consumers to purchases and let factories in Detroit, Wayne and Flat Rock churn at full capacity.

One of the biggest draws for schmoozing journalists is the DaimlerChrysler Firehouse. The Firehouse pub arises only a few days a year with a dedicated purpose of entertaining journalists. The rest of the time it serves as administration headquarters for the Detroit Fire Department, and the first floor is an empty shell for parking cars while administrative work continues on the second floor.

A month before the show, Clear!Blue, a Birmingham-based special events agency, power washes the floor, scrubs the tiled walls and repaints the ceiling. In come the plush chairs, brass railings for the bar and mahogany framed pictures of classic firehouses. As many as 3,000 guests imbibe during the three-day stint.

Executives and sports celebrities pour generous drinks, while food and beer flow free to credentialed media. One observer called the scene: “cheerful and beer-ful.”

“This is a very fun place. I’m fascinated with how it can be converted from a garage to a bar,” says Vincent Wong, a writer for Auto Car in Shanghai making his first trip to Detroit.

“Detroit is a nice place, people here treat you well,” says Julien Marcos, a reporter for Le Nouvel Observateur in Paris who has been coming to Detroit for 10 years. He sat sipping a beer with French colleagues at the Firehouse. “A decade ago there was almost nothing downtown. Now many renovated buildings, but my favorite is still the Fox Theatre.”

The Firehouse will reopen with fresh libations for the next wave of international media descending upon the city for Super Bowl XL, the first weekend in February. The Detroit Auto Dealers Association, sponsors of the North American International Auto Show, contend the auto show is bigger than the football game, with $580 million invested in cars at Cobo vs. $367 million spent during last year’s Super Bowl festivities. Plus the auto media will be back again next year.

Meanwhile, the collected journalists from Paris, Belgrade, Tokyo, Boston and beyond raised their beer glasses to Detroit, and found it full of progress.



The North American International Auto Show runs through Jan. 22 at Cobo. Click here for more information.


Dodge Concept Car

Ford Shelby Cobra

Chevrolet Camaro

The Daimler Chrysler Firehouse Party


Car Photographs Copyright Dave Krieger

Ford Shelby Cobra Copyright Jackson Krieger

Firehouse Photo Copyright Daimler Chrysler



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