(WXYZ) — The excitement is building on the showroom floor at the Detroit Auto Show. This year, 41 brands are participating in the show.
Watch Mike Duffy's video report:
That's up from 34 last year and includes Detroit classics like Ford, GM, and Stellantis, as well as international and luxury brands.
There's so much for people to see and do at this year's show.
So what’s new for 2026? I got a chance to talk to some people who really know, including Said Deep, the director of North America Communications at Ford.
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“While other auto makers are pivoting to just one particular power train, that’s not what America wants right now. America wants the ability to pick and choose what they want, and we feel like for 2026, we’re in a good place to give them that ability to pick and choose what they need for their needs," said Deep.
It’s clear that hybrids are a focus in 2026.
“What we’ve said is just beyond a hybrid, give that customer some functionality beyond the great gas mileage. Give them something else. So you’re going to see, the F-150s a great example of that because it gives you the something else, the on-board generator that you take anywhere, campsite, you want to power your campsite, our truck can go do that," he said. "And I think you’re going to see, how do we use hybrid for performance? So not just give you fuel economy, but when you step into it, when you step into a hybrid, you get both your hybrid electric and the gas engine working together, it’s rocket fast.”
I asked about the future of electric vehicles.
"Electric vehicles, the market's going that way, we can see that. Is it growing at the rate everyone predicted? No, right. It has kind of slowed a little bit, and I think the whole industry, maybe we thought it would grow faster than it really did. But it doesn’t mean it’s not going. In fact, it continues to grow at a slower rate. So we’re going to be in that space as well," said Deep.
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I also got to chat with Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research with Telemetry.
He says the biggest shift in 2026 is product strategy around electrification.
“The industry has been adjusting to what the real market demand is, especially now that the federal tax incentives have gone as well as changes in the regulatory environment," said Abuelsamid.
"Is it fair to say that there has been a pivot from pure EVs to hybrids this year?" I asked.
“Yeah. Maybe less describing it as a pivot as continuing significant growth in hybrid adoption. People see that as a stepping stone toward electrification. You get a lot of the benefits. You get significant fuel economy, lower cost. And the cost premium for hybrids has come down a lot," he said.
He also sees a huge push toward level 3 automated driving, hands off and eyes off.
“Consumers have already shown a willingness to pay subscription fees even for level 2 plus systems, hands off, eyes on systems. As we go eyes off, we start to get some real benefit. There’s likely to be more willingness to pay for that and so most manufacturers have been making announcements," he said.
