The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), scheduled to run 5-20 June in Detroit, has been cancelled as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to spread and the city prepares to repurpose the host venue, TCF Center, into a temporary field hospital.
“Although we are disappointed, there is nothing more important to us than the health, safety and well-being of the citizens of Detroit and Michigan, and we will do what we can to support our community’s fight against the coronavirus outbreak,” said NAIAS Executive Director Rod Alberts.
“With the more than 100 convention centres 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,” Alberts added, saying: “We support the city and state’s mission to help preserve life in the face of this challenging situation.”
NAIAS will hold its next annual show in June 2021. 2020 NAIAS Chairman Doug North said all tickets purchased for the 2020 NAIAS show, including tickets for the Public Show, Industry Preview and Charity Preview will be fully refunded. Charity Preview ticket holders will be given the option of a refund, or the opportunity to donate the proceeds of their refund to one of the nine designated Charity Preview beneficiaries.
North added that the NAIAS sponsorship team would also be in contact with each sponsor directly to answer questions regarding refunds and their contracts.
The 2020 NAIAS was highly anticipated because it had moved from January to summer for the first time.
