Porsche Cars North America Inc. said Monday it will not be at next year's North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
The North American arm of the German sports car company said it is re-evaluating its presence at traditional auto shows and wants to focus resources on interacting directly with potential Porsche customers.
“As a media showcase for new products, the Detroit Auto Show is clearly the premier international auto show in North America,” David Pryor, Porsche Cars North America vice president of marketing, said in a statement. “Still, as Porsche strives to seek new, more personal ways to directly reach out and communicate to its potential customer base, we need to look beyond the traditional consumer auto show — even ones that are highly renowned in the industry.”
Public days for the 2008 Detroit auto show are scheduled for Jan. 19-27; media and industry preview days will be the week before.
In the past two years, Porsche cut about half of the auto shows it participates in throughout North America. Next year, Porsche will be at shows in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Miami, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Washington.
Last year, Porsche's biggest markets were California with sales of 8,827 vehicles, Florida at 4,177 and New York with 2,172. Porsche sold 290 vehicles in Michigan.
Carl Galeana, senior co-chairman of the 2008 North American International Show, said he regrets Porsche's decision to leave and would welcome it back for future shows. The show is run by the Detroit Auto Dealers Association.
“It's a shame because they're an iconic brand, but we respect their decision,” Galeana said. “Certainly, they leave as friends. We hope to get them back someday.”
Porsche premiered the production version of the 2008 Cayenne, including Turbo and S versions, at the 2007 show. The automaker occupied 9,126 square feet of space in a front corner of the main show floor, a prime display spot.
The Detroit show, which had more than 90 exhibitors this year, will not have trouble filling up the Porsche spot, Galeana said. The space will be reallocated.
The Detroit Auto Dealers Association has been pushing for a new or expanded Cobo Center to host the show, but Porsche's departure is unrelated, he said.
“I would love to say if we had more space Porsche wouldn't have left,” Galeana said. “That really isn't the case. This is a marketing decision based on their sales.”
Instead of having displays at many auto shows, Porsche decided to put a greater emphasis on personal marketing activities, such as local events where customers can test drive vehicles, said Porsche spokesman Tony Fouladpour.
“What we find typically is that the more people drive our cars, the more likely they are to buy them,” he said.
