Mopars at auto shows (with videos), revisited

Video coverage of this year’s 2024 New York Auto Show, as well as coverage of the few Mopars to be found there, brought up memories of past shows.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbL40nww9iM[/embedyt]

Camp Jeep is a relatively new phenomenon, and it’s gotten progressively more elaborate over the years; when it started out, admittedly, it was already a bit more impressive than the Ford Off-Roadeo, save for the “steps.” The real highlights of press days were often new vehicle reveals, like this one (summarized to under three minutes):

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Kfb1x-Bvk[/embedyt]

There were still reveals this year, but the shows really needed two full days to fit them all in just a few years ago—at 20 minutes per reveal and just a few minutes to get from one to the other. (One would see over a hundred reporters march dutifully from one to another, presumably filing stories somehow in between.) Luckier or more favored reporters could interview company officials. (This appears to be a company video but at Allpar, I did interview Mr. Cairns for quite a while and gained a favorable impression of Ram that continues to this day.)

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik8EB3QKGds[/embedyt]

Even Mopar got into the act with its own displays, in better years; Marc Rozman caught this one briefly (48 seconds) at Detroit.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhik6QeLHIk[/embedyt]

The big auto shows seem to be winding down; FCA US, for one, prefers smaller reveals in front of chosen reporters, leaving out those who have offended them in the past (or who are not worth flying in). It’s far less wasteful; but it’s a shame, because the big shows made it easier for beginners to get into the game, for more informed-voices to be heard, and for those pushed out to at least scramble for decent coverage and some unique perspectives.

For Stellantis, being among the first to stop using the big shows may be rough when thousands of people flood the Javits Center to find that Ford, Nissan, Toyota, and Chevrolet are doing well enough to show them their latest wares; but Dodge, Ram, and Chrysler are apparently not, and Jeep is only present outside.