The New York International Auto Show, an annual automobile show, which had been scheduled to open to the public, 20-29 August, has been cancelled due to concerns about the Covid-19 Delta variant. New York will soon require proof of vaccination for indoor dining, gyms, entertainment and performances, announced, 3 August.
The Auto Show organisers said: "It is with great disappointment that the upcoming 2021 New York International Automobile Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center has been cancelled due to the growing incidences of the Covid-19 Delta variant and the increased measures announced recently by state and local officials to stop its spread.”
The event, founded in 1900, typically draws more than 1m attendees each year. Each year, attendees spend an average of almost five hours at the exhibition, with nearly 72% of those visitors indicating that they are in the market to purchase a vehicle over the next 12 months.
The organisers now say that the next New York Auto Show will be in spring 2022. The show was also cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic after initially being rescheduled for August.
The Chicago Auto Show, which normally vies for New York's in attendance, recently finished its own rescheduled show. Normally held in February, the show ran 15-19 July. That show hosted 100,000 attendees, a fraction of the more than 1 million that normally attend.
The New York shows organisers concluded: “The Covid pandemic has challenged our city, the country and the entire world, but just like the automobile industry, we know that the New York Auto Show will rebound and be bigger and better than before.”
