America’s Largest Auto Show Has Become Half Its Former Size, Here’s Why You Should Still Go To It

It’s no secret that most of America’s auto shows aren’t what they used to be. Grand displays full of concept cars and bombastic themes are often replaced with local dealers rolling in whatever’s in stock. The Chicago Auto Show is no different. The auto show, which calls itself America’s largest, has scaled back dramatically over the past few years, becoming roughly half its prior size. Yet, there’s still a great reason to go to Chicago and other auto shows in the modern day.

I’ve been going to the Chicago Auto Show since 2009. I was only 16 when I went to the show for the first time, and it was a whole experience. I would join a few of my high school classmates on an all-day auto show adventure. We’d stop by the booths of all of our favorite car brands, sit in our favorite cars, and dream of a future of owning them. Chicago, while sometimes overshadowed by Detroit’s show, still had plenty of concepts from basically every automaker to look at. The automakers were also heavy with theming. Scion’s display would have neon lights, loud stereos, and big bass. Cadillac and Lincoln made their displays feel like black-tie events, while Kia leaned in on its relationship with the NBA.

Back in those days, it was easy to lose an entire hour at just a single automaker’s booth. I know I did. One of the coolest parts of going to Chicago as a teenager was walking up to the front of the display and kindly asking for a flash drive. Every automaker would have them, and the flash drives would have brochures and press images on them. The drives were also themed, with Kia’s drive being a carabiner, GMC’s replicating diamond plate metal, and so on.

My favorite Chicago Auto Show was probably 2015. I visited the show for the first time as the “new” me, and got to meet and race Tanner Foust in iRacing.

The Chicago Auto Show was also the first event I ever went to as media, as the personal car blog I ran for the passion of cars was regularly cleared to attend the media days. The show became so near to my heart that I never missed a single year until the COVID-19 pandemic. I often went to the show two or three times just because it was so fun.

Chicago even had a special edition in 2021, where visitors got the extraordinary chance to enjoy the show outside in summertime rather than the bitter cold of February when the show is normally held. When I returned in 2023, the show was still wonderful and all kinds of fun, but cracks were showing.

Large swaths of McCormick Place were empty, and several automakers skipped out on the show entirely. In 2023, Chicago was missing Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Genesis, Porsche, Mini, Land Rover, Audi, Lincoln, Jaguar, Mitsubishi, and Volvo. Other automakers, like Cadillac, were there only for the test track rides.

Chicago was a bit of a truck show until recent years. Automakers would show off their newest cars in Detroit, then roll in with the heavy iron in Chicago. America’s Big Three used to make a show of its commercial vehicle offerings. You could walk over to Ford and sit in a Mustang and then sit in a medium-duty F-Series dump truck in the same display! Ram would have its HD offerings, while GM would have a little of everything from service trucks to pimped-out Chevy Express vans.

Chicago had perhaps an even greater impact in the decades prior. The show markets itself as North America’s oldest, as it’s been held more times since 1901 than any other show. It’s also marketed as being North America’s largest show in terms of floor space. There was a time when some of the biggest debuts happened right in Chicago. When Mazda launched the MX-5 Miata in 1989, it was revealed right here in Chicago. The 1989 Acura NS-X Concept, the 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT-8, the reborn Ford Taurus SHO, and the 1993 Ford F-150 SVT Lightning each had their debuts in Chicago. Dodge even teased a Viper V10 performance truck in Chicago before making it real.

The Chicago Auto Show has scaled back dramatically in the past couple of years. In terms of floor space and automaker participation, Chicago is now roughly half the size it was less than 10 years ago. If you’re less than generous and take away the many indoor tracks, the show might even be a third of its prior size.

To be fair to Chicago, that wasn’t its fault. Every American auto show is struggling. Detroit, Los Angeles, you name it, all of them are getting smaller with less content.

Many buyers are shopping at home now. You can shop for and buy a car without ever leaving your home. Pretty much everyone offers 3D car configurators and high-res imagery. Cars are launched online now rather than in person. If you’re loyal to a brand, maybe you’ll just drive to the dealer.

I’ve been seeing a lot of online chatter about skipping shows because of their size or how expensive cars have gotten. I think you should still go to these auto shows, because they still have a lot going for them.

Still Fly

My wife and I went to Chicago during the weekend. We worked the single show floor sort of counter-clockwise, starting in Toyota and then moving to Ford before continuing to Subaru. Toyota tends to have one of the biggest static displays at the present Chicago Auto Show, and it brought everything from the Tacoma and the Crown to the GR86 and the GR Corolla. There were long lines just to sit in the GR cars! Toyota even brought a spicy concept Camry, which was cool.

Ford brought out its lineup and set up a Bronco test track. The most bombastic car there was the 2026 Ford Mustang Dark Horse SC.

Yet, Sheryl and I gravitated the most to the Ford Maverick XL. The little work truck was stupendous, with a urethane steering wheel, steel wheels, and all. But it’s a shame the Mav’s base price is now $28,145, and that’s before you cough up an additional $1,845 for the destination fee. I suspect Ford’s little truck will be a great used buy for Sheryl once it depreciates some more.

Most automakers that bothered to come to Chicago didn’t do a whole lot of theming. At least, not like how they used to. Subaru is exempt from this, as it pulls out all the stops even for small shows. This time, Subaru went with a wilderness theme, which has been its go-to for some years now, and put a muddy car on center stage. Subaru also brought a BRZ, a hot yellow WRX, and even Travis Pastrana’s Brataroo 9500 Turbo.

Of course, Subaru also had a little pen with dogs to adopt in it. Subaru usually has great displays, and Chicago was no exception.

So many automakers just do not come to Chicago anymore, and the ones that do keep scaling down their displays. This year, I didn’t see Audi, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Genesis, Porsche, Mini, Land Rover, Lincoln, Jaguar, Mitsubishi, or Volvo. However, there were some pleasant twists, as Cadillac had a proper display this year, Tesla grew its display, and it was great seeing faces like Polestar, Vinfast, and Lucid.

There was even a big electric school bus at the show this year! It was easily one of my favorite vehicles of the whole show. The big ol’ bus was a taste of what this show used to be.

Chicago Is Now A Car Culture Show

The organizers of the Chicago Auto Show are honestly clever and crafty people. A large portion of the show was dedicated to the more obscure corners of Chicago car culture. Yes, the show had a bunch of supercars, just as it does every year. Anyone who has spent more than a couple of days in Chicago in the summer knows the city is full of Lamborghinis and Rolls-Royces galore. Classic cars are also a huge part of Chicago car culture and make frequent Chicago Auto Show appearances.

But this time, there was a pleasant twist. This year, there was something called “Chi-Town Alley” where more obscure car clubs had their cars on display. It was a sort of meeting place to connect with other Chicago car lovers and talk shop. The display had a little bit of everything, from a Nissan R34 Skyline and a Toyota MR2 Turbo to a clean BMW 2002 TII and a highly modified 1997 BMW M3.

There was an entire lowrider section. The car that got my attention the most was this Chevrolet Fleetline, which had one of those neat swamp coolers that was painted to match the car.

Across from the car club section was a little display for the film Drifter by Sung Kang (Han from the Fast franchise) and Rutledge Wood (known best for Top Gear USA). As a huge fan of the old Top Gear USA, I desperately wanted to meet Rutledge, but the line was crazy long. Maybe next time!

The People Element

Chicago had a few genuine surprises this year. Honda didn’t bring nearly enough cars to fill up its display. That resulted in this sort of weird visual:

But that didn’t matter to most people because Honda did bring the Prelude, and everyone wanted to see it. Sheryl is probably one of the 12 ideal customers for a Prelude, and she confirms that she adores it. She loves the idea of a soft touring coupe with Honda reliability. Well, there you go!

Something I loved doing in this show was paying attention to what everyone else was doing. Some people brought their kids and examined which crossovers fit the best. Some people put their kids in driver seats so they could pretend to drive.

Then there were the more interesting characters among them. One guy clearly developed his own testing system and sat in every car in a specific way. He’d recline the seat back a little, max out the bass and treble on the car’s stereo, and then simulate driving down I-94 with one hand on the wheel and the tunes blasting. He seemed to have a thing for Hondas and Kias. As it turns out, the Prelude has a pretty decent stereo!

Sheryl was accidentally one of these people. We went to the auto show as a date, but she suddenly found herself window shopping. She was impressed with the Prelude and then walked over to BMW, Volkswagen, and Buick. BMW, like Toyota, didn’t bring anything that really moved her heart. She also got excited about the ID.Buzz until she saw its base prices. That’s fair. Buick stopped Sheryl in her tracks, which was a genuine surprise.

I found Sheryl falling deeply in love with an Envista. This thing is a fastback crossover that shares its bones with the Chevy Trax. It’s built by GM Korea like other affordable GM models, and I was shocked that you get quite a lot for the base price of $24,700, plus a destination charge of $1,795.

The downside is that the 1.2-liter three-cylinder under the hood is working hard to pump out 137 HP. Oh, and the engine has a wet timing belt. Still, Sheryl didn’t care. She adored the fastback look, calling it Buick’s Honda Crosstour. Yes, she’s perhaps one of two dozen people who adored the Crosstour, so that’s a compliment. The low price of the Envista means it’s also potentially affordable to finance. Nobody’s going to complain about her driving a brand-new Buick! But I admit, I’m not the biggest fan of that tiny engine.

Sheryl then sat in a WRX and a BRZ, figuring out that she really digs the BRZ. Oh yeah, I can see her rocking a BRZ one day.

Auto Shows Still Have A Place

We completed the auto show in a touch over two hours. While I miss spending an entire day in Chicago, we had a fantastic time. The biggest lesson I learned is that there’s still value in auto shows. Had we never gone to the show, Sheryl would have never figured out that she loves the Envista. I also got to show her what Tesla’s newest models look like in person, and we got to talk about what’s going on with Vinfast.

We had an experience that you just cannot get online. It’s different talking online about how a Vinfast will go 4 mph at all costs, and having that conversation while sitting in a Vinfast. You can’t get a feel for how you will fit in a car by looking at pictures online, and some dealerships have a pushy sales environment. But nobody bothered us as we played around with some Buicks and the Honda Prelude. That alone is worth the cost of admission.

It was also just a fun thing to do for a couple of hours on a cold Saturday. I’m not in the market to buy a new car, but I don’t care; it’s still fun to see cool cars in person. It’s so awesome to see kids become future car enthusiasts and to witness young couples shopping for their first new car together. There’s a human element that online car reveals completely erases. Hats off to the folks who craft these shows each and every year.

So, yes, car shows are getting smaller. Yes, more automakers are skipping shows. But you should still go to them. They’re still tons of fun. You never know when you’ll see a car that you didn’t know existed, or find out that you like a car that you didn’t think you would. If you’re interested in going, the Chicago Auto Show will be running daily until February 16. If enough people are interested, maybe we can have an Autopian meetup next weekend!

Topshot graphic image: Mercedes Streeter