NEW YORK — America's longest-running auto show opens in the Big Apple this week for its 126th year with something on the menu for all tastes.

While America’s Big Three auto shows in Detroit, Los Angeles and New York showcase similar displays as the show circus crosses the country, each has a unique feel as they lean into their region’s strengths. If the Detroit event showcases Detroit automakers and LA electric vehicles, then the New York International Auto Show brings Gotham’s “Capitol of the World” swagger with foreign model world premieres and million-dollar exotics in the Javits Center Convention Center surrounded by skyscrapers.

“We didn't think the 126th had the same ring about it, so we didn't go with that, even though it's still incredible,” said show President Mark Schienberg when asked how he planned to follow last year’s NYIAS-palooza that celebrated its 125th anniversary.

“We've been rebuilding after COVID, and this year we're seeing much more commitment from manufacturers,” he continued. New car reveals are “the strongest we've had in quite some time, with 10 press conferences.”

Whereas Detroit has ditched its North American International Show moniker for the more humble Detroit Auto Show, the Greater New York Auto Dealers Association still embraces the “International” in NYIAS. The Big Three Show personalities are telegraphed by the awards that open media week.

Detroit: North American Car, Truck & Utility of the Year

LA: Green Car of the Year

NYC: World Car of the Year

The Korea Show

A frontrunner for this year’s World Car of the Year was the Hyundai Palisade (along with Nissan Leaf EV). The BMW iX3 won, which was appropriate because the Korean automaker (and its sister Kia and Genesis brands) have made U.S. shows marketing priorities. The exception is Detroit where non-Motown makes have deferred to the home team for vehicle debuts.

New York, like other shows, has seen an exodus of automakers with foreign makes Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Mini Cooper, Mazda, Land Rover, Audi, Mercedes, Volvo, and BMW all absent from a show they once helped headline.

The latter four brands still have a show floor presence thanks to dealer activations, Schienberg notes: “Our data shows that people who come (to the show) are three times more likely than the average consumer to purchase a car in the next 12 months. If you're not there, then you're really losing out. Also, 81% of the attendees last year said that the show helped them make their next vehicle decision.”

New York is a media hub, and Korean automakers covet its spotlight. Significant introductions in NYC and LA in recent years have included the Hyundai Palisade, Sonata sedan, Ioniq 5 N, and Kia K4 hatchback. This year Hyundai wowed with the Boulder Concept — a body-on-frame, midsize bruiser that will be Made in the USA and takes aim at Detroit icons Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco.

Hyundai’s Genesis luxury brand also took the silk off the first hellion in its Magma performance line: the GV60 Magma EV. Genesis also showed off a stunning, dark-green station wagon concept of its G90 sedan, the G90 Wingback. Hyundai’s sister brand, Kia, unveiled a 2027 Seltos subcompact crossover. Like its brand-defining Telluride big brother, the remade Seltos aims to tease SUV Nation with bold looks and hoodless, 25-inch dash screen.

Meet the new VW, same as the old VW

While Korean automakers made a splash, the all-new, 2027 Volkswagen Atlas is the most significant vehicle in show along with the Hyundai Boulder.

Just six years after VW hailed its electric revolution with the ID.4 (internally hailed as the most significant V-dub since the world-conquering Beetle), and three years after the rebirth of its iconic microbus as the ID.Buzz EV, the ID.4 has been a disappointment and the ID.Buzz withdrawn from the U.S. market.

Instead, VW has re-invested in popular internal-combustion-engine-powered SUVs like the subcompact Taos and best-selling Tiguan. Now comes the remade, three-row, Tennessee-made Atlas — the brand’s biggest vehicle — with an upgraded turbo-4, state-of-the-art digital screens, chiseled Jeep-like bod, and luxury options like rear window shades.

Consumer choice

NYIAS — with automakers relieved of New York state’s expensive, so-called Section 177 EV mandates by an act of Congress — is also pivoting away from the EV branding that dominated recent shows as the Greater New York Dealers rushed to promote electrics required to make up 35% of dealer sales this year.

“We have multiple test tracks with Jeep and Toyota outside and hybrids and electrics inside. And next year, we've got approval from the city of New York to do ride ‘n’ drives inside the Javits Center for gas engines,” said Schienberg. “That'll open up enormous opportunities for the consumer.”

The electric Nissan Leaf may have been a World Car candidate, but the consumer-focused U.S. market is different from other markets where government influences production through either high gasoline prices or EV mandates.

“The U.S. is a unique market — second biggest market in the world after China — but the most relevant. China is just a world on its own,” said World Car Chairman Emeritus Jens Meiners who lives in the United States and Germany. “What distinguishes America is the car is (a) product that pretty much every American needs, and cars need to appeal to everyone: affordable, reliable. What we've seen in America — what we haven't seen yet in Europe and China — is the collapse of the electric transformation. EVs are now just 4% of the market.”

Nissan sells a broader range of product in the United States than overseas from the Leaf to three-row Pathfinder SUV to sports cars. In the Big Apple, Nissan took the wraps off its 2027 Z sports car. The sleek Z sports a stick-shift option which will thrill #SaveTheManual enthusiasts. Nissan’s U.S.-focused lux brand Infiniti also unveiled in New York an innovative, fastback version of its QX65 ICE SUV.

Detroit muscle

ICE-powered sportscars also dominate Detroit brand displays (save for Buick and Cadillac) that occupy significant real estate here.

Though Motown makers prefer their Detroit backyard (or stand-alone events) for new model reveals, Chevy, Ford, Lincoln, and Stellantis brought never-before-seen model trims to the Big Apple.

The Corvette Grand Sport joins its supercar siblings at the Chevy stand: Z06, two design concepts, and the mighty, AWD, 1,250-horsepower ZR1X fresh off setting the fastest American production car lap ever at Germany’s Nürburgring (there’s that international thing again).

Ford wowed New York last decade with the mid-engine GT. For ‘26, Ford is rallying around its new Mustang Dark Horse performance sub-brand and has a squadron of weapons, including the Dark Horse, Dark Horse SC, RTR, GT, and Mustang GTD (also fresh off an insane Nürburgring lap).

Dodge took an expensive detour down Electric Alley in recent years, but is back in New York with the 2026 Dodge Charger reborn with retro-1968 styling, hatchback, and a more affordable inline-6 cylinder. Other automakers are also re-investing in ICE powertrains.

Across the pond, World Car’s Meiners says that EV mandates have made cars unaffordable for many Europeans — with top World Car awards this year going to expensive BMW iX3, Lucid Gravity, and Hyundai Ioniq 6 N EVs.

“People are having trouble affording individual mobility, and it's a huge problem,” said Meiners. “We tried to address this with our World Urban Car category because we want to bring home the notion that world needs affordable cars.”

The meat and potatoes, 2027 Chrysler Pacifica minivan has received plastic surgery and debuts its handsome, modern new face in New York. The three-row Durango SUV waves the flag with an America250 special edition - a nod to the country’s 250th anniversary.

Speaking of anniversaries, the Ford Expedition celebrates its 30th with a special edition – its torso tattooed with 30th badges.

Exotica

Detroit in 2026 followed New York’s lead with a crowd-pleasing exotics show at the back of Huntington Place. NYAIS puts its exotics show smack dab in the middle of the Level 3 Main Hall.

This year’s jewels include: the Rolls-Royce Cullinan Series II, Rolls-Royce Ghost Series II, Lamborghini Revuelto, Lamborghini Urus SE, Lotus Eletre Carbon EV, Lotus Emira Turbo, Bentley Flying Spur, Bentley Supersports, Koenigsegg Regera, 350-horse, restomod GTO Engineering Ferrari, Zenvo Aurora Agil, Sacrilege Motors 911 EV, and Tedson Motors 911.

Only the 1,850-horse Aurora Agil have more juice than the Corvette ZR1X. Not bad for a Chevy on the international stage.

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