Show History

Washington, D.C. has long been the site of the country’s greatest ambitions for change in the name of progress. The 2010 Washington Auto Show: “Change Happens Here” not only symbolizes the hopes of the industry but marks the show’s achievements over the years. The Washington Auto Show has not only become the largest public show in Washington, D.C., it’s also a destination known for showcasing the latest innovations in sustainable technologies and convening the most influential leaders on the future of the automotive industry.
 

Indeed, Washington, DC’s largest public show has become an event not to miss for consumers, key policy makers and industry leaders. This Jan. 27 to 31, hundreds of thousands of visitors, including many environmental and automotive visionaries, will explore the more than 700 new makes and models from over 42 manufacturers at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

The Washington Auto Show spans five days, fully stocking the two-story, multi-acre convention center with an automotive showcase many describe as “new car heaven.”

Given its staging in the heart of Washington political season, the show has increasingly garnered national and international spotlight and drawn on the capital’s high-profile visitors. In turn, manufacturers have responded with larger, more interactive exhibits, now possible in the expanded convention center. That’s all good news for the true VIPs of the show – consumers. More new models, more concepts and prototypes, more high-tech breakthroughs and more entertainment, celebrity guests and contests await this year’s visitors.

While today’s America embraces the automobile like not other country or culture, it wasn’t always so. In 1921, a group of 20 Washington-area car dealers and distributors planned the first show to sell the public on the virtue of the horseless carriage. From that humble beginning, The Washington Auto Show has been on the fast track in terms of growth and popularity. Housed in a variety of area venues, the show was staged for 18 years in the National Guard D.C. Armory. The show has gone on hiatus twice in over six decades – once for war and once due to poor economic conditions.

After a break in the 1970s, the Washington Convention Center and The Washington Auto Show opened together in early 1983. By this date, the auto show had grown to require every available foot of display space, covering nearly eight acres – almost four times the physical size of the Armory shows with three times as many models.

Steady growth in size and prominence has made The Washington Auto Show one of the industry’s most prestigious events. In 1988, The Washington Auto Show began using the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day as its annual timeframe, garnering a tremendous base of loyal fans and establishing its reputation as a family destination. The event was later moved to late January to coincide with Congress’ return from recess, enabling the show to capitalize on the business of Washington.

The show’s early planners who sought every imaginative twist to draw attention to that newfangled mode of transportation would be amazed to learn that today’s auto show features a full slate of entertainment, contests, interactive displays, exhibits on futuristic technology and family activities that can actually offer visitors a break from all those cars!