2021 Los Angeles Auto Show to be held in November as usual

The 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show will take place in November. After previously rescheduling the 2020 show for May, organizers confirmed late Thursday that those plans have been scrapped, and the show will return to its regular slot this fall, taking place Nov. 17-18, Automotive News said late Thursday.

Since every auto show organizing body in the country seems allergic to the “C” word, we’ll use it for them: The 2020 Los Angeles Auto Show has finally, formally, for-real been canceled. In other words, the 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show will be the only Los Angeles Auto Show to be held in 2021.

Confused yet? Welcome to the club. Keeping track of the American auto show schedule was nearly impossible in 2020, during which each major show after Chicago (held in February, just prior to COVID gaining a strong foothold in the United States) was “postponed” at least once.

The short version is that we expect the scheduling shenanigans to continue until some semblance of normality can be restored, but if you’re the masochistic sort, here’s the long version. Strap in. 

At this point, the rest of the 2021 schedule remains firmly in the “TBD” column. The 2021 Chicago Auto Show, originally slated for early-mid February, has been postponed indefinitely. Even now, with warmer weather looming on the horizon, Chicago’s organizers are holding to a “Spring 2021” timeframe. Automotive News last reported that anything from March to May is still on the table. We’re skeptical, to say the least.

Next up would be the New York Auto International Auto Show, which is typically held just before Easter. Organizers announced in October that its 2021 show dates have been pushed back to Aug. 20-29, but we have every reason to suspect those dates remain tentative.

Finally, the Detroit Auto Show, which was held in January for more than a decade, has effectively been merged this year with the Motor Bella event, outdoors Sept. 21-26 at M1 Concourse in Pontiac, Mich. The public days will be Sept. 23-26.

Of the schedule changes, only Detroit’s move to the fall slot appears to be permanent. Key word being “appears.” The 2020 North American International Auto Show was slated to be held in June 2020 for the first time, moving back from its previous January slot. It now appears that a springtime Detroit Auto Show was simply not meant to be. What form it takes in fall 2022, we shall see.