(Words and Photos by Jim Hrody) After going up and down in size a few times in the past few years, the 2024 Chicago Auto Show returned to a single hall at McCormick Place. Corporate support was still absent for several brands. Most notable this year was Stellantis pulling out of participation just a few weeks before the show was to take place. Between Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep., Ram, Fiat, Maserati, and Alfa Romeo they were known to have one of the largest displays, including multiple test tracks year after year.
The annual Supercar Gallery returned as it does every year. Local dealers showcased their wares behind a partition. Like each year, a few variants each from Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Maserati, McLaren, Bentley and Rolls Royce we availalble to drool over. The most expensive here once again was the new Lamborghini Countach, which was advertised at $2.8M.
Electric vehicles were out in force, as expected. Once again Hyundai had a couple. Its Ionic 5 wagon/crossover still reminds me of a 1992 Olds Cutlass, both in the front end styling and the dashboard design. The cockroach shaped Ionic 6 looks like a mid-90s Mercedes, and I learned the back seat is no place for a tall person due to the curvature of the roof. Kia had the EV9, which more or less is an electricfied Telluride style SUV. Also displayed again was their quick EV6 GT crossover-wagon, which according to the numbers is quite the performance machine.
Tesla was at the show for the first time ever. The brand’s CyberTruck had a very large crowd around it, even though it was ‘only’ Media Days. Lucid brought out several examples of the Lucid Air Pure model for test rides, and it was impressive. Sure, the performance was great— zero to sixty in the mid to high 3 second range. Bear in mind this is one of the ‘slower’ Lucids. What impressed me even more was that it had a real dashboard & instrument panel, not an oversize tablet under the middle of the windshield. It seemed very familiar, while not too futuristic.
Another EV that impressed was the Cadillac Lyriq. This one starts in the high $50k, which is relative low for a luxury EV. This one too had a dashboard that impressed. It had a few touches that remined me of an early-60s Cadillac. It seemed retro and modern at the same time.
As for other notables on the rest of the show floor…. Chevy displayed three Corvettes on the carpet— a Stingray, a Z06, and an E-Ray. On raised-platforms were the Silverado EV, Blazer EV, and Equinox EV. As for Ford, they debuted the much anticipated 2025 Mustang GTD, with all of it’s 800 horsepower, plus $300K price tag— yes three-hundred-thousand.
Toyota had a few performance offerings on display. These were GR Supra, and also the GR Corolla Circuit Edition. This Corolla variant manages to squeeze 300 horspower out of 3 cylinders and spreads that across all four wheels. Lexus had a few V8 rear wheel drive models on the floor, but less of them than last year. Nissan had couple Frontier variants, one a retro style, the other a ‘Forsberg Racing’ editon. Also prominently displayed was a Nissan Ariya electric crossover that completed a North Pole to South Pole expedition. This vehicle was highly modifed, and looked like something out of Iceland with it’s 39″ tires.
For decades now the Chicago Auto Show has a corner which is essentially a custom car show within the new car show. A local Camaro club returned with several F-bodies on hand. Ditto for a Jeep club which displayed a nice cross-section of vehicles from several decades. A Chicago car museum called ‘Klairmont Kollections’ brought out an interesting cross section of vehicles for display, like last year.. Amongst these is a purpoted very first production Jeep Wrangler.
The Chicago Auto Show is historically the longest running auto show on the planet. Even with small changes over the years, it’s still known as the largest in the nation, and is worth the trip. CAS runs for ten days in mid-February every year. It can get very crowded on public days, so plan ahead.
