Delta variant forces cancellation of New York auto show

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York International Auto Show has become a casualty of the fast-spreading coronavirus delta variant.

Show organizers said Wednesday that they've decided to cancel it this year, a little over two weeks before the scheduled start.

The reasons are the growing spread of the variant and recent restrictions announced by state and local officials to fight it.

“Over the past few weeks, especially within the past few days, circumstances have changed, making it more difficult to create an event at the high standard that we and our clients expect,” Mark Schienberg, the show's president, said in a statement.

The show was scheduled to begin with a press day on Aug. 19. The next show will come in April of 2022, spokesman Chris Sams said.

The show was scrubbed before automakers' trucks left warehouses to start moving in to the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, Sams said. He said current government precautions wouldn't have stopped this year's show, but organizers feared the situation could worsen between now and the start.

Once the trucks depart, costs to automakers grow, he said.

The New York show and others including Detroit and Los Angeles were canceled last year due to the pandemic. Chicago was able to squeeze in its show this year before cases spiked.