ABSTRACT
The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) returned to Detroit in September after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it could fairly be described as weird. Becker usually attends to see not just the latest automobile designs but the newest technology. This year, the show was smaller than ever, had fewer automakers participating and had almost no displays on the inner workings of the vehicles. How did the public react? One measure would be attendance, which in prepandemic years often exceeded 800,000 people. Unfortunately, the Detroit Auto Dealers Association (DADA), which runs the show, has announced it will not be releasing attendance figures this year. A DADA spokesperson, Frank Buscemi, didn't explain the reason behind this decision. His guess is that the number would be embarrassingly small.