CES 2025: Where will all the US automakers go?

The old chestnut that had been passed down by industrial managers for the past decade was that CES – one of the largest trade fairs in the world – turned into a car show. Perhaps the most important car show of the year.

And there was ample evidence of that. GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra used it CES session in 2016 introducing the world to the electric Chevrolet Bolt. In 2022, Barra appeared again at CES when he announced that General Motors would selling autonomous vehicles by “the middle of the decade.”

Meanwhile, Ram and Chrysler – the two American Stellantis brands – have used CES to showcase future EVs, including Ram 1500 BEV in 2023.

Ford is probably the biggest exhibitor at CES – especially on the automotive front. The US automaker has used CES for a bevy technical announcements since 2011, including its Smart Mobility Plan in 2015, self-driving car ambitions in 2016, the future of the EV line in 2017, and City of Tomorrow his vision in 2018 which includes building a Autonomic cloud platform for smart cities.

This year, there isn’t a single American automaker to be found, unless you count VW Group’s US spinoff Scout Motors. A number of Chinese automakers have filled the gap, most notably Zeekr, the EV brand of China’s Geely Holdings. Wey, the top brand under Great Wall Motor, and Xpeng also had bags.

Their lack of availability may be due to the high volume of products that are used in cars, which are longer than other electronic devices, Brian Moody, editor-in-chief of Kelley Blue Book, told TechCrunch. “It’s circular, that’s a boring answer,” he said in a recent interview. “The product cycle for automakers is much longer than the product cycle for consumers. Making a car in the real world takes a lot longer.”

He said automakers are beginning to rethink their presence at shows like CES. “If you’re not generating millions of impressions for consumers, what’s the ROI?” he laughed, adding that the fragmentation of the media has contributed to this concern.

Ford’s spokesman, Alan Hall, told TechCrunch that although the company does not have any launches (shows or announcements) this year, “CES is still an important show for evaluating new technologies and trends in consumer electronics so that we can get a number of our engineering, our design, our support systems, and team members are organizing things there.”

Some Ford employees, for example, participated in discussions, such as at the Connect2Car meeting.

GM had a small synthesis through a few partners, but there is no interview or fund, the spokesman confirmed, knowing that with all sales, the company evaluates every year and adjusts according to the various commercial factors and requirements.

Regardless, walking down the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center – where almost all automotive technology can be found – the lack of US automakers was noticeable. A good place to show EVs or car programs from US companies was not available.

Several Chinese automakers have filled the gap, most notably Zeekr, the EV brand of China’s Geely Holdings.

And it extended to other automakers like Mercedes-Benz who used to have big shows at CES.

Mercedes made the decision to skip CES “after careful consideration and evaluation of our direction in the coming year,” spokesman Patrick Kuom told TechCrunch, adding that the company is also at the Xperi booth.

There were several automakers there such as Honda, which showed two of its cars in the coming 0 Series and under its Asimo operating system, and BMW, which showed more of new car features. Toyota also made a splash with their press conference to announce that it did finished the first part about his laboratory with Woven City is that it focuses on and invests in orbital rockets.

But the main topic was driving and software – and the automakers didn’t have much to show up front. Instead, companies that work on self-driving cars – or the sensors that support them – and software took up most of the floor space. AV giants Zoox and Waymo had demonstrations (along with the Zoox robotaxi ride for the media) along with others such as May Mobility and Japanese company Tier IV.

Software and sensor companies also flourished including Aeva, Applied Intuition, and Sonatus – to name a few.