Another auto show off the calendar—this time in Columbus

]The 2025 Columbus Auto Show has been canceled—raising more questions about the future viability of the once highly popular car events for automakers, dealers, and consumers.

The details:  The Columbus, Ohio car show—put on by the Columbus Automobile Dealers Association was originally scheduled to be held March 13 – 16, making the decision to cancel the car event rather abrupt.  

• The Columbus Auto Show—held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center—has been around for more than 50 years as a major annual vehicle showcase event for the city of 900,000-plus.

• Last year’s Columbus auto show featured about 30 different car manufacturers and over 250 vehicles, though no official attendance numbers for the event were readily available.  

• Show organizers indicate that they are still committed to maintaining the charitable part of the annual event this year, which has raised more than $2,000,000 for local charities over past years. 

Between the lines: The cancellation of the show adds to lingering concerns about the sustainability of the car events amid declining attendance numbers in recent years, a trend compounded by the COVID pandemic.     

• The Detroit Auto Show—which moved its date back January after moving it to Fall following the pandemic—reported 275,000 people attended the show, compared to 774,179 in 2019, an attendance decline of more than 35%.  

• The San Francisco International Show—supported by the California New Car Dealers Association—has been routinely canceled since 2022.    

Despite the challenges some shows have faced in the market, some of the larger staple U.S. car events like the LA Auto Show, Chicago Auto Show, and New York International Auto Show have begun to reestablish some of their footing in their respective markets. However, attendance for the shows is still nowhere near pre-COVID days.    

Why it matters: Auto shows have long been a place for automakers to showcase new models to the media and car buyers, drumming up interest in vehicles sold or soon to be available at local dealerships. The decline in attendance and challenges to maintain the shows are not only signs of the fallout of the COVID pandemic—It’s also an indication that more car buyers are now gathering information about vehicles from different sources, many of them digital.

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