POLL: Does 'Detroit' Belong in Auto Show's Official Name?

You've almost certainly heard or read "Detroit Auto Show" this week, and we bet not one friend, family member or colleague has said "North American International Auto Show." (Actually, it was tiring to just type that mouthful!)

Now a veteran local business columnist says what many people likely think: Why not shorten the name?

"It's time to rebrand the annual get-together [as] what it actually is: the Detroit International Auto Show," Daniel Howes writes today in The Detroit News. "Detroit and its annual auto show are established cornerstones of the global auto industry, and it's past time to say so, unambiguously."

When he checked Google – where else? – the search engine showed nearly 6 million results for "north american international auto show" and a whopping 109 million for "detroit auto show."

The event, which has a swanky charity preview Friday night and opens to the public Saturday, was called the Detroit Auto Show for its first 80 years. It began in December 1907 at suburban Riverview Park, hosted by the new Detroit Auto Dealers Association.

That group, now based in Troy, renamed the show in 1987 in an effort to stand out from similar events in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.