NEW YORK — The annual New York auto show probably will be pushed back to August from April due to the coronavirus.
Organizers of the event put on by the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association have begun to tell carmakers the delay is likely, Chris Sams, a spokesman for the show, said by phone Tuesday. He expects the group to make a final decision and announcement within the next 24 hours.
The show coordinators said a week ago they already had installed 70 hand-sanitizing stations throughout the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Manhattan’s west side, where companies were expected to unveil more than 50 new models. Dealers were trying to preserve the fate of an event that dates back to 1900 after the cancellation of the Geneva International Motor Show, which was called off late last month for the first time since the World War II era.
But the preemptive measures that organizers were planning probably aren’t going to be enough because of heightened concerns about the virus known as Covid-19. The National Guard is being sent to the New York City suburb of New Rochelle to help close large, public gathering spaces to slow down the spread of the outbreak, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a press conference Tuesday. He referred to the one-mile square area being set up as a containment zone.
The New York show was scheduled to open to the media on April 8 and 9 and then to the public starting April 10.
