Reaction to scaled down Detroit Auto Show [Video]

Media Preview Day took place Friday for just four hours inside Huntington Place, in advance of the start of the Detroit Auto Show (DAS).

It marks the first time the organizers are officially dropping the title NAIAS – North American International Auto Show.

“We were returning to our roots,” DAS Chairman Karl Zimmermann said Friday. “It’s not so much about the media, but it is about our industry. It’s about cars. It’s about the consumers and about our community.”

Zimmermann noted the Detroit Auto Dealers Association – which organizes the event – started in 1907 “for the express purpose of having an auto show.”

He said the glitzy unveilings and grand spectacles came over time, particularly with big shows by Lexus in the 1980s.

“I miss the glitz, the glamor, the excitement,” Alisa Priddle, Detroit editor for Motor Trend said Friday. “Every CEO from every automaker in the world had …