Even DUMBER Than The Bailout? Is It Worth Spending $221M For Detroit's Cobo Center Facelift?

If you have been making the auto show rounds like the Agents, you'd realize one thing. Over the past several years it has been very clear that there is a change going on. Not only are blockbuster reveals being channeled to emerging markets but the Detroit Auto Show is starting to lose its importance. It doesn't help that it was recently reported the city has lost approximately 25 percent of its population...in a decade.

Now it seems the Los Angeles and New York shows have more importance with better reveals and better venues. I remember my first time in Detroit's Cobo Center, it stunk like vomit. Ask 001, he'll back me up on this.

Additionally, it seems that the big unveils are being sent to emerging markets, like Shanghai. This year's Shanghai show is suppose to have the Audi Q3 AND BMW M5 concept. Recall the Porsche Panamera? It was unveiled there for a reason.

Listen, in all honesty I'd like to see Detroit dust itself off, come back and win one for the Gipper; however, at the end of the day the return on investment matters. Sinking $221M into a revitalized Cobo is a bold move.

More importantly, what do you think, Spies? Should Detroit take a leap of faith and bring back Cobo with a new tag line "Stinks less like vomit," OR just stick a fork in it because it's done?


After the worrying news on Detroit’s staggering 25 per cent population decrease in the last decade, we have some good news for the Motor City as the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority announced a US$221 million renovation of the Cobo Conference and Exhibition Center, which as you already know, hosts the annual North American International Auto Show. The Cobo Center was last updated more than twenty years ago in 1989. 

Under the three-year plan, the Cobo Center will undergo a dramatic facelift inside and out with the hopes of making it more competitive in the industry...