Last fall, Nissan had announced that it would not have an official presence at the show, but a number of Nissan dealership owners in Michigan said they would fund a simple display filled with cars, brochures and no other frills. Now it appears that, in response to pressure from Nissan’s headquarters, those dealers won’t show any cars at next week’s North American International Auto Show.
The show, which begins on Sunday for the media and opens to the public late next week, has seen a number of automakers pull out entirely.
Doug Fox, owner of Ann Arbor Nissan and co-chairman of the show, is being forced to walk a fine line. He told the Detroit News that the dealers were told of Nissan’s wish to not be included in the show just before Christmas and that as “dealer partners,” they were obliged to pull out of the show.
We were moving forward with manning the show, but were notified that Nissan would really appreciate that we respect their decision not to have a presence,” he told the newspaper.
Instead, the 25,000 square foot display in the Cobo Center that would have held Nissan and Infiniti products and displays will be used for a lounge and gallery for the black tie charity preview. During the public and media show days, the area will be used for a Bertone exhibit, a College for Creative Studies display and additional space for Kia .
