Carmakers gather for last winter in Detroit as auto show switches to June

The city’s hospitality industry worries about losing its winter boost as self-driving technology prompts shift to outdoor event

The icy winds whistling off the Great Lakes will take temperatures to well below freezing in Detroit this week. Not that the cold will deter hundreds of thousands of visitors from pouring into Motor City for the North American International Auto Show, arguably the world’s most famous car show, when it opens on Monday.

This will be the last year that warmly wrapped gear heads will face an icy dash between the show and the city’s sold-out hotels and restaurants to discuss this year’s models and parties. Next year NAIAS – which can trace its history back to 1899 – moves to the balmy month of June. The plan is to show the resurgent city at its best and allow manufacturers to demonstrate their new cars – and technology – outside in the fresh air.

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