Detroit is the flagship show for the "Detroit" car manufacturers. That's where the fancy concepts and production cars debut. International manufacturers also use Detroit to debut their product that will mostly be sold in the U.S. The aura of this show is stereotypical American PR glitz. I would argue that this show should be in Los Angeles because that is where the trends are, but the "American" manufacturers want the show at "home" for them.
It is interesting that there are two subsidiary shows in the U.S. that also get some interest. Those are Chicago (February) and New York (end of March). Chicago has the biggest hall for shows in the U.S., so manufacturers like to show their cars there, plus it can get the overflow from Detroit. Who knows why New York even has a show. That is the most car unfriendly city in the U.S., but tradition holds that they have a show because all the fancy coachbuilders in the twenties and thirties showed their craft there.
Geneva in March is a big deal because the show is held in a "neutral" country. No manufacturer makes cars there and everyone sells them in Switzerland. The show is compact because the halls aren't that big. While it does mainly showcase product for the European market, the American manufacturers also use it to show off their new product that might get some international appeal. The Italian design houses also use Geneva to show their concept cars because it is close to Italy and there isn't a show in Turin anymore.
The good news is that Geneva is the smallest show by floor area. That means that it is the most manageable to see. The bad news is that Geneva is the smallest show, and that the crowd makes displays hard to see. What's worse, who wants to go to Geneva in March? But then who wants to go to Detroit in January? I think there should be some international conference on auto shows to reschedule them when the weather is better.
Frankfurt in odd years and Paris in even years are the real shows to display European product. The Germans use Frankfurt as their most desirable show to introduce new cars, whereas the French use Paris in the same way. All the manufactures, however, realize that they need other venues to show new cars that can't wait for a show that happens every two years. Frankfurt is probably the biggest show in the world in terms of display area. It really is huge. If one just wants to walk around and look at all the displays, you should budget two days. It's that big. For example, BMW and Mercedes both have their own buildings! Paris is smaller, probably something like twice the size of the Los Angeles show in terms of display area. At least as big as the Frankfurt show is, the crowd spreads out a bit. You must also realize that these international shows in Europe are a big deal. The shows draw huge crowds.
Last, and far from least is the Tokyo show. The very interesting thing about the Tokyo show is that this one show is where the really "far out" concepts are shown. It has been said that this is where the Japanese manufacturers let their hair down. In the last couple of shows, there have been some very strange concept cars, indeed.
One example is from the usually very conservative Honda. It is called the Unibox. That is a very good name for what looks like a big tall rectangular box made of glass -- entirely of glass! It seats six comfortably. It stores two, small electric motorcycles so you can get to where you really are going once you find a parking place in Tokyo. Also, a storage compartment has a shopping cart complete with its own navigation system. Is that so you can find all the sales, or so you can find your Unibox when you're done shopping? Also there is an external air bag on the front for pedestrian protection should your attention wander while you're searching for a parking place.
Or maybe the one from the even more conservative Toyota called the POD. That stands for Personalized On Demand, and the personalization includes monitoring the driver's pulse and perspiration levels, using music and cool air to try to relax a tense driver, and even warning those in other cars of the driver's mood through toots on the horn, wags of its tail-like radio antenna and by the car's "face". With rear-view mirrors serving as ears, the headlights as eyes and with LEDs in the shape of a nose and mouth, POD also uses color to express up to ten emotions, including happy, sleepy, sad, and angry. Aha, now you can see road rage coming down the road!
Special mention must be made for Honda's Fuya-jo because it really qualifies for strangeness. Fuya-jo is Japanese for "the castle that never sleeps". But this vehicle's nature is even stranger than its name. Fuya-jo looks like a tall, raspberry-colored toaster on wheels, and is an automotive tribute to Japan's youth dance club culture. It really is sort of a boom-box on wheels with a turntable-like steering wheel and with "seats" that have the occupants all but standing, so they can dance their way down the road. Dancing slowly, that is, because the car's 1.0-liter engine will propel it to just a 19 mile/hour maximum speed.
So these concepts are really "out of the box" even though some look just like boxes. And if you think I had a hard time finding these three examples of strangeness at the Tokyo show, I didn't tell you about the Daihatsu D-Bag 4, the Suzuki Wagon R/LoFT, the Mitsubishi Maus and Zaus, the Toyota Will Vi, the Nissan Nails, the Mazda Secret Hideout, and the Isuzu Begin Funkybox -- and there are others.
What's on the horizon for international auto shows? China's emerging auto industry is staking their place in the field with the 2005 Shanghai Auto Show. The previous show there was in 2003, with a Beijing show in 2004.
